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LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J 


SOI 

Division $Ssr£. 


Section. 


DIES    ir^: 


THE   LAST   JUDGMENT 


mu% 


nu 


IN 


THIRTEEN    ORIGINAL    VERSIONS 


v/ 


BY 


ABRAHAM    COLES,    M.D.,  Ph.D. 


With   Photographic   Illustrations 


FOURTH    EDITION 


NEW    YORK 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1866 


Kntered  according  to   Act  of  Congress  in  the  year   1859,  \,y 

Abraham  Coles, 

in   the  Clerk's  office  of  the   District  Court  of  the   District  of 

New  Jersey. 


RIVERSIDE.    CAMBRIDGE  : 
KRKOTYPED     AND     PRINTED     BY 
II     0.    HOUGHTON    AND   COMPANY. 


INTRODUCTION. 


T  would  be  difficult  to  find,  in  the 
whole  range  of  literature,  a  production 
to  which  a  profounder  intereft  attaches 
than  to  that  magnificent  canticle  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  DIES  IRM.  Fattening  on  that 
which  is  indeftruc~T.ible  in  man,  and  giving  fitter  ex- 
preffion  than  can  elsewhere  be  found,  to  experiences 
and  emotions  which  can  never  cease  to  agitate  him, 
it  has  loft  after  the  lapse  of  fix  centuries  none  of  its 
original  frefhness  and  transcendent  power  to  affect 
the  heart.  It  has  commanded  alike  the  admiration 
of  men  of  piety  and  men  of  tafte.  By  common  con- 
sent, it  is  as  Daniel  remarks:  sacra  poeseos  summum 
decus  et  E celestes  Latins  Kei{i7/?aov  est  pretiofijjtmum. 
Among   gems    it  is  the  diamond.     It  is  solitary  in 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

its  excellence.  Of  Latin  Hymns,  it  is  the  beft 
known  and  the  acknowledged  mafterpiece.  There 
are  others  which  poiTess  much  sweetness  and  beauty, 
but  this  ftands  unrivalled.  It  has  superior  beauties, 
with  none  of  their  defects.  For  the  moft  part  they 
are  more  or  less  Romifh,  but  this  is  Catholic,  and 
not  Romifh  at  all.  It  is  universal  as  humanity.  It 
is  the  cry  of  the  human.  It  bears  indubitable  marks 
of  being  a  personal  experience. 

The  author  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  monk :  an 
incredible  suppofition  truly  did  we  not  know  that  a 
monk  is  also  a  man.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  the 
monk  does  not  appear,  and  that  it  is  the  man  only 
that  speaks.  He  no  longer  dreams  and  drivels.  He 
is  effectually  awake.  The  veil  is  lifted.  He  sees 
Chrift  coming  to  Judgment.  All  the  tumult  and  the 
terror  of  the  Laft  Day  are  present  to  him.  The  final 
pause  and  syncope  of  Nature  ;  the  fhuddering  of  a 
horror-ftruck  Universe  ;  the  down-rufhing  and  wreck 
of  all  things — all  are  present.  But  these  material 
circumftances  of  horror  and  amazement,  he  feels  are 
as  nothing  compared  with  "  the  infinite  terror  of 
being  found  guilty  before  the  Juft  Judge."      This 


INTRODUCTION.  VII 

Tingle  confideration  swallows  up  every  other.  The 
interefts  of  an  eternity  are  crowded  into  a  moment. 

One  great  secret  of  the  power  and  enduring  popu- 
larity of  this  Hymn  is,  undoubtedly,  its  genuineness. 
A  vital  fincerity  breathes  throughout.  It  is  a  cry  de 
profundis ;  and  the  cry  becomes  sometimes — so  in- 
tense are  the  terror  and  solicitude — almoft  a  fhriek. 
It  is  in  the  higheft  degree  pathetic.  The  Muse 
is  "  Mater  Lachrymarum,  Our  Lady  of  Tears." 
Every  line  weeps.  Underneath  every  word  and  syl- 
lable, a  living  Jieart  throbs  and  pulsates.  The  very 
rhythm,  or  that  alternate  elevation  and  depreffion  of 
the  voice,  which  prosodifts  call  the  arfis  and  the 
thefts^  one  might  almoft  fancy  were  synchronous 
with  the  contraction  and  the  dilatation  of  the  heart. 
It  is  more  than  dramatic.  The  horror  and  the  dread 
are  real :  are  actual  not  acted.  A  human  heart  is 
laid  bare,  quivering  with  life,  and  we  see  and  hear  its 
tumultuous  throbbings.  We  sympathize — nay,  be- 
fore we  are  aware,  we  have  changed  places.  We, 
too,  tremble  and  quail  and  cry  aloud. 

All  true  Lyric  Poetry  is  subjective.  The  Dies 
Ir^e  is,  as  we  have  seen,  remarkable  for  its  intense 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

subjectivity  ;  and  whoever  duly  appreciates  this  char- 
aci.erift:ic,  will  have  little  difficulty  in  underitandins; 
its  superior  effectiveness  over  everything  else  that 
has  been  written  on  the  same  theme.  The  life  of 
the  writer  has  palled  into  it  and  informs  it,  so  that  it 
is  itself  alive.  It  has  vital  forces  and  emanations. 
Its  life  mingles  with  our  life.  It  enters  into  our 
veins  and  circulates  in  our  blood.  A  virtue  ^oes  out 
from  it.  It  is  electrically  charged,  and  contact  is 
inftantly  followed  by  a  mock  and  fhuddering. 

Springing  from  its  subjectivity,  if  not  identical  with 
it,  we  would  further  notice,  the  intensifying  effect  of 
what  may  be  called  its  personalism,  in  other  words 
its  ego-ism.  It  is  I  and  not  We.  Substitute  the 
plural  pronoun  for  the  lingular,  and  it  would  lose 
half  its  pungency.  We  have  had  occafion  to  observe 
the  weakening  effect,  of  this  in  tranflation.  The 
truth  is,  the  feeling  is  of  a  kind  too  concentrated  and 
too  exacting  to  allow  itself  to  be  diffipated  in  the 
vagueness  of  any  grouping  generality.  The  heart 
knoweth  its  own  bitterness.  There  is  a  grief  that 
cannot  be  fhared,  neither  can  it  be  joined  on  to 
another's.      It  is  not  social  nor  common.      It  is  mine 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

and  not  yours.     It  is  exclusive,  not  because  il 
fish,  but  because  it  has  depths  beyond  the   sour. 
of  ordinary  sympat 

This  is  especially   true    of  some    of   the    inte: 
forms  of  religious  experience,  proceeding  as   thev  do 
from  that  which   is  moft  intimate  and   innermoft,  the 
penetralia  of  a   man's   cor.~  »s,  his  moft  secret 

and  peculiar  self.      There  is  an   inner  and    privileged 
beart,  :v~;ch  is  kept  as  a  chamber 
locked   up.       It  is  hidden   and   sacred.      It    may   be, 
that  the  individual,  dwelling  habitually  in  the  outer 
courts  of  his  being,  rarely  if  ever  enters  into  it 
self.      For  man  is  twofold.      A  veil  divides  ber. 
the  outer  and  the  inner  man.      Gross  and  sensual, 
the  majority  of  mankind  are  averse  to  lifting  the  con- 
ce:.i;::_;  medium,    foi  fear  of    unwelcome  re 
and  discoveries  respecting  themselves.      Goethe  . 
example  of  this  portentous  preference  for  half  knowl- 
edge :   u  .Man,"    he  says,   u  is  a  darkened  being  ;   he 
knows   not  whence   he   came,  nor  whither  he   g 
he  knows  little  of  the  world  and  less  of  himself.      I 
know  not  myself,  and  may  G   d  pr  tect  me  from  it." 

In  converiion  to  God  this  veil  is  rent  from   top   ~o 
b 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

bottom.  There  is  a  self-revelation.  Behind  the 
curtain,  there  in  the  Moff.  Holy  Place,  where  ought 
to  be  the  Shekinah,  the  mining,  senfible  Manifefta- 
tion  of  the  Divine  Presence,  he  beholds  the  Abomi- 
nation of  Iniquity  set  up.  He  awakes  to  the  ftart- 
ling  fa£r.  that  he  is  "  without  God  and  without  hope 
in  the  world."  A  voice  of  urgency  is  sounding  in 
his  ears:  "Flee  from  the  Wrath  to  Come."  He 
anticipates  the  terrors  of  the  Judgment.  He  feels 
that  there  is  not  a  moment  to  lose.  Instinct 
prompts,  and  the  Word  of  God  enjoins,  that  he  seek 
to  save  himself  firft.  He  knows  not  whether  others 
are  in  as  bad  a  case  as  he. .  But  of  his  own  guilt  and 
danger  he  has  no  doubt.  An  offended  Maker  con- 
fronts him,  him  in  particular.  So  he  prays  and  ago- 
nizes. His  may  not  be  "the  thews  which  throw  the 
world" — he  is  conscious  of  weakness  rather  than 
ftrength — yet  fingly  and  alone,  he  wreftles  with  God 
like  Jacob,  and  prevails  like  Israel. 

The  Hymn  is  not  only  lyrical  in  its  efTence,  but 
also  in  its  form.  It  is  inftincf.  with  mufic.  It  Tings 
itself.  The  grandeur  of  its  rhythm,  and  the  aflb- 
nance  and  chime  of  its  fit  and  powerful  words,  are, 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

even  in  the  ears  of  those  unacquainted  with  the  Latin 
language,  suggeftive  of  the  richeft  and  mightieft  har- 
monies. The  verse  is  ternary ;  and  the  ternary 
number,  having  been  efteemed  anciently  a  symbol 
of  perfection  and  held  in  great  veneration,  may  pos- 
sibly have  had  something  to  do  with  the  choice  of 
the  ftrophe.  Be  this  as  it  may,  its  metrical  ftruc- 
ture,  as  all  agree,  conftitutes  by  no  means  the  leaft  of 
its  extraordinary  merits.  Trench,  in  his  Selections 
from  Latin  Poetry,  speaks  of  the  metre  as  being 
grandly  devised,  and  fitted  to  bring  out  some  of  the 
nobleft  powers  of  the  Latin  language  ;  and  as  being, 
moreover,  unique,  forming  the  only  example  of  the 
kind  that  he  remembers.  He  notices  the  solemn 
effeft  of  the  triple  rhyme,  comparable  to  blow  fol- 
lowing blow  of  the  hammer  on  the  anvil.  Knapp,  in 
his  Liederschatz,  likens  the  original  to  a  blaft  from 
the  trump  of  resurrection,  and  declares  its  power 
inimitable  in  any  tranflation. 


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HISTORY    OF   THE    HYMN. 


HE  authorfhip  of  the  Dies  Irae  is  as- 
cribed, apparently  upon  good  grounds, 
to  Thomas  of  Celano,  so  called  from  a 
small  town  of  that  name  in  Italy.  He 
was  a  friend  and  pupil  and  subsequently  the  biog- 
rapher of  St.  Francis  of  Affifi,  the  founder  of  the 
order  of  Minorites,  (called  also  PViars-Minor,  Grey 
Friars  or  Franciscans,  being  one  of  the  four  orders 
of  mendicant  friars,)  inftituted  in  1208.  Wadding, 
an  Irifhman  and  a  Minorite,  who  lived  in  the  firft 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  who  wrote  a 
hiftory  of  his  order,  expreffly  refers  it  to  Celano. 
He  mentions  two  other  hymns  or  Sequences  com- 
posed by  him,  one  beginning  :  Fregit  viffor  virtua- 
lis  ;  the  other  :   S antti tails  nova  figna.     The  circum- 


XIV  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

fiance  of  the  Dominican  Sixtus  Senenfis  affecting 
to  sneer  at  it,  calling  it  rhythmus  inconditus,  is  re- 
garded as  confirmatory  of  the  opinion,  that  it  was  at 
leaft  the  work  of  a  Franciscan  ;  the  bitter  rivalries 
subfifting  between  the  two  orders  affording,  it  is 
thought,  the  moft  plaufible  explanation  of  a  criticism 
so  manifeftly  splenetic  and  unjuft.  Another  cor- 
roborative circumftance  is  its  early  admiflion  into 
the  Franciscan  MifTals,  by  which  means  a  knowl- 
edge of  it  was  spread  throughout  Europe.  The 
correctness  of  this  inference  is  further  suftained  by 
the  fact,  that,  inscribed  on  a  marble  flab  in  the 
Franciscan  Church  of  St.  Francis  at  Mantua,  was 
found  one  of  the  earlieft  copies  of  the  hymn,  rep- 
resenting, it  is  believed,  the  text  as  it  came  from 
the  hands  of  the  author.  Dr.  Mohnike,  a  learned 
and  able  editor  of  the  Dies  Ira?,  furnifhes  an  old 
copy  of  the  Mantuan  text,  which  differs  from  the 
Received  text  chiefly  in  this,  that  the  firft  four 
ftanzas  are  additional.  They  are  here  given  with 
a  tranflation  annexed  ;  also  the  heading  which  is  as 
follows  : 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XV 

Meditatio  Vetufta  et  Venufta 

de   Noviflimo  Judicio 
qua?  Mantua?  in  asde  D.   Francisci  in 

marmore  legitur. 

i.      Cogita,  anima  fidelis, 
Ad  quid  respondere  velis, 
Chrifto  venturo  de  coelis. 

Weigh  with  solemn  thought  and  tender, 
What  response,  thou,  Soul,  wilt  render, 
Then  when   Chrift  mail  come  in  splendor 

2.  Cum  deposcet  rationem 
Ob  boni  omiflionem, 
Ob  mali  commiflionem. 

And  thy  lite  fhall  be  inspected, 
All  its  hidden  guilt  detected, 
Evil  done  and  good   neglected. 

3.  Dies  ilia,  dies  irse, 
Quam  conemur  prcevemre 
Obviamque   Deo  ire  ; 

For  that  day  of  vengeance  neareth  : 
Ready  be  each  one  that  heareth 
God  to  meet   when   He  appeareth, 


XVI  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

4.     Seria  contritione, 

Gratise  apprehenfione, 
Vitae  emendatione. 

By  repenting,  by  believing, 

By  God's  offered  grace  receiving, 

By  all  evil  courfes  leaving. 

The  succeeding  fixteen  verfes  are  the  same,  with 
flight  variations,  as  those  of  the  Church  or  Received 
text ;  but  in  place  of  the  next  verse,  which  forms 
the  17th  of  this,  beginning  :  Oro  supplex  et  acclinis, 
the  Mantuan  copy  has  the  following  for  its  21ft  and 
concluding  ftanza  : 

21.     Confors  ut  beatitatis 
Vivam  cum  juftificatis 
In  asvum  aeternitatis.    Amen. 

That  in  fellovvfhip  fraternal 

With  inhabitants  supernal 

I  may  live  the  life  eternal.   Amen. 

That  the  abbreviation  of  the  poem,  by  the  omis- 
fion  of  the  four  opening  ftanzas,  adds  greatly  to  its 
general,  and  ftill  more  to  its  lyric  effectiveness,  there 
can  be  no  doubt.      The  rejected  verfes,  partaking  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XVll 

a  quiet  and  meditative  character,  impair  the  force  of 
the  lyric  element.  In  its  present  form,  all  is  vehe- 
ment ftir  and  movement,  from  the  grand  and  ftart- 
ling  abruptness  of  its  opening,  to  the  sweet  and 
powerful   pathos  of  its  solemn  and   impreffive  close. 

Befides  Celano,  various  other  names  have  had 
their  supporters  for  the  honor  of  the  authorfhip  of 
this  poem.  It  has  been  attributed  to  Gregory  the 
Great,  who  lived  at  a  period  some  fix  hundred 
yeaps  earlier.  But  this  would  involve  the  neceffity 
of  suppofing  that  a  poem  of  such  extraordinary  merit 
could  remain  unknown  and  unnoticed  during  so 
many  centuries,  which  is  not  at  all  likely.  Befides, 
it  is  certain,  that,  while  rhyme  was  not  altogether 
unknown  or  unused  at  that  time,  it  had  by  no  means 
reached  that  ftate  of  perfection  which  this  poem 
exhibits.* 

Leonard  Meifter,  a  Swiss  writer,  claimed  that 
Felix  Hammerlin,  (Latinized  into  Malleolus,)  a 
Church  dignitary  of  Zurich,  born  in  1389,  and  who 
died  about  1457,  was  tne  autnor  of  Dies  Irae,  because 
among  Hammerlin's  poems  he  found  a  manuscript 
of  this  hymn  ;   but  the  evidence  is  quite  conclufive, 

*  See   Appendix — Origin  of  Latin  Rhyme. 

c 


XVlll  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

that  the  hymn  was  in  exiftence  before  his  time.  In 
the  Hammerlin  text,  the  16th  verse  is  followed  by 
eight  more,  probably  supplied  by  Hammerlin  him- 
self.    They  are  here  subjoined. 

17.  Oro  supplex  a  ruinis, 
Cor  contritum  quafi  cinis  : 
Gere  curam  mei  finis ! 

From  the  ruins  of  creation, 
Make   I   contrite  supplication  : 
Interpose  for  my  salvation  ! 

18.  Lachrymosa  die  ilia, 
Cum  resurget  ex  favilla, 
Tanquam  ignis  ex  scintilla, 

On  that  day  of  woe  and  weeping, 
When,  like  fire  from  spark  upleaping, 
Starts,  from  allies  where  he's   deeping, 

19.  Judicandus  homo  reus, 
Huic  ergo  parce,  Deus! 
Efto  semper  adjutor  meus  ! 

Man  account  to  Thee  to  render : 
Spare  the  miserable  offender  ! 
Be  my  Helper  and  Defender  ! 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XIX 

20.  Quando  cadi  sunt  movendi, 
Dies  adsunt  tunc  tremendi, 
Nullum  tempus  poenitendi. 

When  the  heavens  away  are  Hying, 
Days  or"  trembling  then  and  crying, 
For  repentance  time  denying; 

21.  Sed  salvatis  lseta  dies, 
Et  damnatis  nulla  quies, 
Sed  daemonum  effigies. 

To  the  saved  a  day  of  gladness, 
To  the  damned  a  day  of  sadness, 
Demon  forms  and  fhapes  of  madness. 

22.  O  tu  Deus  majeftatis, 
Alme  candor  Trinitatis, 
Nunc  conjunge  cum  beatis  ! 

God  of  infinite  perfection,   . 
Trinity's  serene  reflection, 
Give  me  part  with  the  election! 

23.  Vitam  meam  fac  felicem 
Propter  tuam  genetricem, 
JefTe  rlorem  et  radicem. 


XX  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

Happiness  upon  me  mower, 

For  Thy  Mother's  sake,  with  power 

Who  is  Jefle's  root  and  flower. 

24.      Prasfta  nobis  tunc  levamen, 
Dulce  noftrum  fac  certamen, 
Ut  clamemus  omnes,  Amen  ! 

From  Thy  fulness  comfort  pour  us, 
Fight  Thou  with  us  or  fight  for  us, 
So  we'll  fhout,  Amen,  in  chorus. 

Talcing  for  granted  that  the  Mantuan  was  the 
original  text,  it  would  follow  that  the  truncation  of 
the  four  introductory  verfes  spoken  of  had  already 
taken  place  at  the  time  of  Hammerlin  ;  and  it  is 
furthermore  obvious  that  the  17th  and  1 8th  verfes 
of  the  Received  text  muft  have  been  formed  out  of 
the  firft  three  of  the  supplemented  verfes  of  Ham- 
merlin,  as  follows,  viz.  :  by  subftituting,  in  the  17th 
verse,  "  et  acclinis "  for  "  a  ruinis,"  and  taking 
the  firft  two  lines  of  the  two  succeeding  verfes, 
being  triplets,  to  make  up  the  18th  verse,  which 
confifts  of  four  lines.  Bating  a  few  verbal  varia- 
tions, the  firft   fixteen  verfes  of  the   Hammerlin  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXI 

Church  texts  correspond.  The  laft  named  is  founded 
on  the  Roman  AlifTal  firft  publifhed  in  1567,  under 
the  sanction  and  after  the  reviiion  of  the  Council  of 
Trent.  It  forms  the  bafis  of  the  present,  as  it  does 
of  mofl:  translations. 

A  brief  reference  to  some  of  the  more  important 
variations  in  the  text,  and  an  explanation  of  certain 
allulions  which  occur  therein,  may  not  be  unintereft- 
ing.  The  firft  line,  Dies  irce,  dies  ilia,  plainly 
points  to  a  paiTage  of  Scripture  from  the  Vulgate, — 
Zephaniah  I.  15.  The  whole  verse  reads  thus  : 
"  Dies  ir^e,  dies  illa,  dies  tribulationis  et  anguftiae, 
dies  calamitatis  et  miserias,  dies  tenebrarum  et  caligi- 
nis,  dies  nebulae  et  turbinis,  dies  tubae  et  clangoris." 
In  the  third  line,  the  change  of  the  Mantuan  read- 
ing, "  Petro  "  into  "  David,"  as  it  now  ftands, 
may  have  been  due,  it  is  conjectured,  to  a  feeling 
that  there  was  greater  appropriateness  in  David's 
being  afTociated  with  the  ante-Chriftian  Sibyl.  From 
the  averfion  felt  to  the  introduction  of  a  heathen 
Sibyl  into  a  Chriftian  and  ftill  more  a  Church 
hymn,  a  MifTal  of  the  diocese  of  Metz,  publifhed  in 
1778,  rejecting  the  third    line,  adopts,  but  without 


XXII  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

the  authority  of  a  Tingle  manuscript,  another  reading 
as  follows  : 

Dies  irae,  dies  ilia, 
Crucis  expandens  vexilla, 
Solvet  sasclum  in  favilla. 

Day  of  wrath,  that  day  amazing, 
High  the  bannered  cross  upraifing, 
While  the  universe  is  blazing. 

The  allufion  here  is  to  the  fign  of  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  Man  in  heaven,  mentioned  in  Matthew 
xxiv.  3  ;  and  is  indicative  of  the  belief,  that  the  fign 
there  spoken  of  would  have  its  fulfilment  in  the 
apparition  of  a  cross  in  the  fky.  But  the  older  and 
the  true  reading  is  doubtless  the  other,  which  refers 
to  the  Sibyl  as  bearing  concurrent  teftimony  with 
the  prophet  of  the  Old  or  the  New  Teftament, 
David  or  Peter,  (Psalm  xcvi.  13  ;  xcvii.  3  ;  xi. 
6  ;  2  Peter  iii.  7,)  touching  the  deftruc~tion  of  the 
world  and  the  final  judgment.  The  2d,  7th,  and  8th 
books  of  the  "  Sibylline  Oracles  "  are  full  of  pas- 
sages which  refer  to  these,  but  it  is  probable  that  the 
reference    here    is    more    immediately  to   verfes  ex- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXU1 

tracted  therefrom,  found  in  Lactantius  (Divin.  In- 
ftitut.  lib.  vii.  De  Vita  Beata,  cap.  16—24).  In  tne 
earlier  ages  of  the  Church,  these  pretended  prophecies 
were  regarded  with  no  little  veneration  ;  wherefore 
it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  to  find  Chriftian  writ- 
ers placing  them  fide  by  fide  with  Scriptural  proph- 
ecies, and,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  making  solemn 
appeal  to  them.  The  discovery  of  their  true  char- 
acter as  worthless  forgeries  was  reserved  for  a  later 
period. 

This  poem,  which,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe, 
was  originally  the  inspiration  of  retirement,  the  soli- 
tary outpouring  of 

"  a  suppliant  heart  all  crufhed 
And  crumbled  into  contrite  duft," — 

to  adopt  the  language  of  Crafhaw's  verfion  at  the  17th 
verse, —  came  afterwards,  when  it  had  pafTed  into 
Church  use,  to  receive  the  title  of  Sequence,  from 
the  place  affigned  to  it  in  the  service  of  the  Mass 
for  the  Dead.  The  precise  time  when  this  occurred 
cannot  be  determined,  but  it  muft  have  been  early, 
for  Albizzi  speaks  of  it  as  being  in  common  use 
as   a  Sequence  in  1385.      For  an  explanation  of  this 


XXIV  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

term,  the   reader   is  referred  to  the  Appendix  at  the 
end  of  this  volume. 

If  the  origin  of  the  hymn  be  somewhat  obscure, 
not  so  have  been  its  subsequent  fortunes.  Through 
the  long  centuries  that  have  elapsed  fince  the 
time  it  firft  became  known  to  the  world,  its  ex- 
traordinary merits  have  been  fteadily  recognized. 
Its  light  has  been  that  of  a  ftar,  whose  keen  and 
diamond  luftre  intermits  not  nor  grows  dim,  but 
mines  on  the  same  from  age  to  age.  Its  million 
from  the  beginning  has  been  one  of  power.  To 
some,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  it  has  been  ct  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation."  Scattered  every- 
where along  its  track  are  seen  the  luminous  foot- 
prints of  its  victorious  progress  as  the  subduer  of 
hearts.  The  greateft  minds  have  delighted  to  bear 
teftimony  to  its  worth.  Goethe  evinced  his  appre- 
ciation of  it  by  introducing  certain  verses  of  it  into 
his  "Fauft," — with  how  grand  an  effect  we  all  know. 
Boswell  relates  of  Dr.  Johnson,  that,  "  when  he 
would  try  to  repeat  the  celebrated  Prosa  EcclefiajHca 
pro  Mortuis,  beginning  :  Dies  irce,  dies  ilia,  he  could 
never  pass  the  ftanza  ending  thus  :  Tantus  labor  non 
fit  cajfus,  without  burfting   into  a  flood   of  tears." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXV 

It  is  said  that  Ancina,  a  Profeffor  of  Medicine  in 
the  Univerfity  of  Turin,  was  so  ftrongly  affected  by 
hearing  one  day  the  Dies  Ira?  chanted  in  the  service 
for  the  dead,  that  he  determined  to  abandon  the 
world.  He  afterwards  became  Bifhop  of  Saluzzo. 
Milman,  in  his  u  Hiftory  of  Chriftianity,"  speaking  of 
the  Latin  poetry  of  the  Chriftian  Church,  remarks  : 
"  There  is  nothing,  in  my  judgment,  to  be  compared 
with  the  monkifh  Dies  irce,  dies  ilia"  To  these 
names  might  be  added  those  of.  many  other  eminent 
scholars  and  critics,  all  bearing  like  teftimony.  But 
the  crowning  proof  of  its  unrivalled  excellence  is 
found  in  the  fact,  that,  mingled  with  the  fighs  and 
gaspings  of  diffolving  Nature,  the  measured  beat  of 
its  melodious  rhythm  has  been  so  often  heard  ;  now, 
it  may  be,  in  the  soft  murmur  of  words  half  audible, 
and  now  in  the  clear  tones  of  a  diftincf.  utterance, 
iiluing  from  the  pale  and  trembling  lips  of  the  dying. 
The  Earl  of  Roscommon,  we  are  told,  repeated  with 
great  energy  and  devotion,  in  the  moment  when  he 
expired,  two  lines  of  his  own  translation  of  the  17th 
verse  : — 

••  My   God,  my   Father,  and   my   Friend, 
Do  not  forsake  me  in  my  end  !  " 
d 


XXVI  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  evinced  his  regard  for  it  in  the  same 
affecting  manner,  during  his  laft  hours  :  "  We  very 
often,"  says  his  biographer,  "  heard  diftinctly  the 
cadence  of  the   Dies   Ira?." 

It  is  certainly  somewhat  remarkable,  that,  while 
ihus  solemnly  afTociated  with  the  dying  moments  of 
these  two  illuftrious  mafters  of  song,  who  had  likewise 
employed  their  pens  in  the  talk  of  rendering  it  into 
Engliih,  it  mould  have  had  a  connection  not  diffim- 
ilar  with  the  death  of.  that  great  composer  by  whose 
means  this  immortal  poem  has  come  to  be  worthily 
wedded  to  immortal  muiic.  It  is  well  known  that 
A4ozart's  Requiem  is  founded  on  it.  This,  his 
greater!:  work,  perhaps,  was  deftined  also  to  be  his 
laft,  of  which,  it  is  said,  he  had  a  solemn  presenti- 
ment. His  death  occurred  before  it  was  entirely 
finifhed.  Befides  Mozart,  other  diftinguifhed  com- 
posers, such  as  Cherubini,  Haydn,  Jomelli,  Palaftrina, 
and  Pergolefi,  have  exercised  their  genius  upon  the 
same  theme  and  the  same  text. 


TRANSLATIONS    OF   THE    HYMN. 


HE  number  of  tranflations  made  of  this 
hvmn  into  different  languages  it  were 
not  easy  to  eftimate.  Those  in  Ger- 
man are  particularly  numerous.  In  a 
work  dedicated  to  these,  edited  by  Dr.  F.  G.  Lisco, 
(Berlin,  1840,)  as  many  as  seventy  verfions,  more  or 
less  complete,  are  given  ;  the  number  being  further 
increased  three  years  afterwards  by  the  addition  of 
seventeen  others,  appended  to  a  volume  of  tranfla- 
tions,  by    the    same    editor,   of   the    Stabat   Mater.* 


*  For  the  loan  of  both  the  above  works  the  writer  is  in- 
debted to  the  Rev.  William  R.  Williams,  D.  D.,  who,  in  a 
Note,  afterwards  somewhat  enlarged  and  thrown  into  an  Appen- 
dix, affixed  to  an  Address  on  the  "  Conservative  Principle  or 
our  Literature,"  firft  published  in  1843,  and  subsequently  in- 
cluded  in   his  volume  of  "  Miscellanies,"   has,  with  his  usual 


XXVIII  TRANSLATIONS     OF     THE     HYMN. 

There  is  one  in  French,  one  in  Romaic  or  Modern 
Greek,  one  in  Dutch,  and  one  in  Latin,  all  the  reft 
being  German.  In  nearly  every  case,  pains  have 
been  taken  to  preserve  the  exact  measure  and  form 
of  the  original.  The  superior  flexibility  of  the  Ger- 
man, and  its  greater  supply  of  words  adapted  for 
double  rhyme,  give  translators  in  that  language  a 
decided  advantage.  The  difficulty  involved  in  tripli- 
cating the  double  rhymes,  owing  to  the  poverty  of 
our  language  in  words  suitable  for  the  purpose,  with- 
out practifing  awkward  and  inelegant  inverfions,  is 
probably  the  reason  why  English  tranflators,  even 
where  they  have  been  careful  to  retain  the  triplet 
form  of  the  ftanza,  have  failed  to  preserve  the 
rhyming  close. 

Crafhaw's,  one  of  the  oldeft  and  nobleft  of  the 
English  tranflations,  and  which  in  the  opinion  of  an 
eminent  critic  was  not  surpaiTed  by  anything  he  ever 
wrote,  is  done  in  quatrains,  or  Tingle  rhymed  couplets 

eloquence  and  exhaultive  learning,  given  a  very  full  and  inltruc- 
tive  account  of  this  hymn  and  its  translations  ;  adding  in  the 
later  editions  a  verfion  of  his  own,  one  of  the  first  made  in 
ternary  double  rhyme. 


TRANSLATIONS     OF     THE     HYMN.  XXIX 

repeated  ;  and,  on  account  of  the  freeness  of  the  ren- 
dering, might  more  properly  be  called  a  reproduction 
than  a  tranflation.  The  Earl  of  Roscommon,  cele- 
brated in  Dryden's  verse  as  the  greater!  poet  of  his 
time,  was  the  author  of  a  verfion  praised  by  Pope 
as  the  beft  of  his  poetical  performances  ;  although  he 
is  confidered  as  having  borrowed  both  from  Crafhaw 
and  Dryden.  It  is  in  triplets  like  the  original,  but 
without  double  rhyme,  and  the  verse  is  iambic  in- 
ftead  of  trochaic. 

The  few  verfes  introduced  by  Sir  Walter  Scott 
into  the  "  Lay  of  the  Laft  Minftrel,"  and  which  have 
found  their  way  into  almoft  all  the  more  recent  Col- 
lections of  Hymns  used  in  our  Churches,  though 
spirited  and  impreffive,  can  scarcely  be  called  a  trans- 
lation, being  little  more  than  an  echo  of  one  or  two 
of  the  leading  sentiments  of  the  Latin  original. 
Another  familiar  hymn,  contained  in  moft  Hymn 
books,  commencing, 

"  Lo  !  He  comes  in  clouds  descending," 

purports  to  be  a  tranflation  of  the  Dies  Irae  ;  but 
in  respect  neither  to  form  nor  spirit  does   it  corre- 


XXX  TRANSLATIONS     OF     THE     HYMN. 

spond  very  accurately  to  the  original.  Although  there 
are  other  verfions  of  more  or  less  merit,  some  made 
by  our  own  scholars,  a  further  enumeration  might  be 
tedious.  "  It  is  not  wonderful,"  as  Trench  remarks, 
u  that  a  poem  such  as  this  fhould  have  continually 
allured  and   continually  defied  tranflators." 

The  Author  of  the  Tranflations  here  publilhed 
scarcely  knows  how  to  fhield  himself  from  the  im- 
putation of  presumption  to  which  his  attempt  ex- 
poses him.  The  number  of  his  verfions  is  Thir- 
teen. The  first  fix  have  the  somewhat  rare  merit, 
so  far  at  leaft  as  Englifh  verfions  are  concerned,  of 
being  metrically  conformed,  both  as  it  respects 
rhyme  and  rhythm,  to  the  original.  The  five  suc- 
ceeding ones  are  like  in  rhythm,  but  vary  from  the 
original  in  not  preserving  the  double  rhyme.  The 
one  which  follows  is  in  iambic  triplets,  like  Roscom- 
mon's ;  and  the  laft  in  quatrains,  after  the  manner 
of  Crafhaw's   verfion. 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  Tranflator  to  be  in  all 
cafes  as  faithful  as  poffible  to  the  senfe  and  spirit 
of  the  original,  and  likewise  to  the  letter,  but  not 
so    flavimly   as    to    preclude   variety.       He    has    en- 


TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXXI 

deavored  to  carry  out  likeness  in  unlikeness,  and  to 
give  to  each  verfion,  so  far  as  practicable,  the  intereit 
of  a  diftinct  poem.  How  far"  he  has  succeeded 
others  muft  judge.  The  preservation  of  the  double 
rhyme  involved  some  special  difficulties,  which  he  has 
overcome  as  well  as  he  could  ;  but  he  would  not  be 
surprised  if  some  readers  preferred  the  eafier  metres, 
and  indulges  the  hope  that  the  multiplication  of  ver- 
fions  may  serve,  among  other  things,  to  meet  this 
diverfity  of  tafte.  But  there  are  some,  if  he  mis- 
takes not,  who  enjoy  those  pleasing  surprises  in 
viewing  an  object,  that  result  from  an  altered  atti- 
tude and  a  new  angle  of  vision, — the  curious  changes 
which  follow  every  fresh  turn  of  a  revolving  kaleido- 
scope,— and  the  writer  is  willing  therefore  to  believe 
that  such,  at  any  rate,  will  not  be  displeased  at  this 
attempt  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  one  verfion  by 
another  and  yet  another,  in  the  hope  that  thereby 
the  original  may  be  exhibited,  approximately  at  least, 
in   its  solid  entireness. 

Young,  in  his  "  Eflay  on  Lyric  Poetry,"  afferts 
that  difficulty  overcome  gives  grace  and  pleasure, 
and  he  accounts  for  the  pleasure  of  rhyme  in  general 


XXXII  TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN. 

upon  this  principle.  Having  failed  in  his  own  case 
to  afford  an  exemplification  of  great  success  in  this 
particular,  his  critic  and  biographer,  Johnson,  some- 
what sarcaftically  remarks :  "  But  then  the  writer 
muft  take  care  that  the  difficulty  is  overcome  ;  that 
is,  he  muft  make  rhyme  confift  with  as  perfect 
senfe  and  expreffion  as  would  be  expected,  if  he 
were  perfectly  free  from  that  fhackle."  Hence,  the 
greater  the  difficulties  to  be  surmounted,  the  greater 
is  the  need  of  elaboration,  until  art  conceals  art. 

The  present  Tranflator,  recognizing  fully  the  pro- 
priety of  the  rule  here  ftated,  does  not  feel  that  he 
has  any  right  to  plead  the  arduousness  of  his  tafk,  as 
an  excuse  for  any  inftances,  if  such  there  be,  of 
forced  and  unnatural  conftrucrion,  resorted  to  in 
order  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  rhyme  or  metre. 
What  is  called  poetic  license  is,  he  is  aware,  a 
license  of  power  and  grace,  and  not  of  weakness  and 
deformity,  being  tantamount  to  a  license  to  dance  or 
fing,  in  place  of  ordinary  walking  or  speaking.  Po- 
etic chains,  undoubtedly,  were  meant  not  to  confine 
and  cripple,  but  to  regulate  movement  in  conformity 
with  settled   laws  ;    the  object  being,  not  to  punifh 


TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXXIII 

speech,  but  to  exalt  and  honor  it, — to  grace  language, 
not  disgrace  it. 

To  preserve,  in  connection  with  the  utmost  fidelity 
and  rtricxness  of  rendering,  all  the  rhythmic  merits 
of  the  Latin  original, — to  attain  to  a  vital  likeness  as 
well  as  to  an  exact  literalness,  at  the  same  time  that 
nothing  is  sacrificed  of  its  mufical  sonorousness  and 
billowy  grandeur,  easy  and  graceful  in  its  swing  as 
the  ocean  on  its  bed, — to  make  the  verbal  copy, 
otherwise  cold  and  dead,  glow  with  the  fire  of  lyric 
passion, — to  reflecl:,  and  that  too  by  means  of  a  fingle 
verfion,  the  manifold  aspects  of  the  many-sided  orig- 
inal, exhaufting  at  once  its  wonderful  fulness  and 
pregnancy, — to  cause  the  white  light  of  the  primitive 
so  to  pass  through  the  medium  of  another  language 
as  that  it  mail  undergo  no  refraction  whatever, — 
would  be  defirable,  certainly,  were  it  practicable  ; 
but  so  much  as  this  it  were  unreasonable  to  expect 
in  any  tranflation. 

All  the  verfions  here  given  were  written  and  nearly 

ready  for  the  press   more  than  two  years  ago ;   but, 

influenced  partly  by  a  senfe  of  their  imperfechiess, 

and  partly  by  a  doubt  as  to  the  reception  that  a  book 

e 


XXXIV  TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN. 

exclufively  devoted  to  a  Tingle  hymn  might  meet 
with  from  the  public,  the  Translator  has  delayed 
their  appearance  until  now,  when,  encouraged  by 
the  favorable  opinion  exprefled  by  some,  whose 
names,  were  it  proper  to  give  them,  would  be  re- 
garded, he  doubts  not,  as  an  apology  for  his  bold- 
ness, he  ventures  the  experiment  of  publication. 
He  does  not  deny  that  the  amount  of  public  favor 
that  has  been  alreadv  accorded  to  two  of  the  ver- 
fions,  viz.,  those  marked  1.  and  II.,  publifhed  anony- 
moufly  in  the  "Newark  Daily  Advertiser"  sev- 
eral years  fince,  the  firft  as  long  ago  as  1847,  has 
had  something  to  do  with  overcoming  his  diftruft. 
To  avoid  misapprehenilon,  it  is  right  to  ftate,  that 
two  verses  of  the  firft  were  introduced  into  Mrs. 
Stowe's  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and  by  these  acci- 
dental means  have  enjoyed  a  world-wide  currency. 
More  recently  this  verfion  has  been  honored  with 
a  place  in  the  "  Plymouth  Collection  of  Hymns  and 
Tunes,"  edited  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  and  set 
to  mufic.  It  was,  so  far  as  the  Translator  knows, 
the  firft  attempt,  with  a  fingle  exception,  to  repro- 
duce in  English  the  ternary  double  rhyme  of  the 
original. 


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O 


DE    NOVISSIMO   JUDICIO. 

;v>  IES   irae,  dies  ilia 

Solvet  saeclum   in   favilla, 
Tefte   David   cum   Sibylla. 

Quantus  tremor  eft  futurus, 
Quando  Judex  eft  venturus, 
Cuncta  ftridte  discufiurus  ! 

Tuba,   minim  spargens   sonum 
Per  sepulchra  regionum, 
Coget  omnes  ante  thronum. 


Mors  ftupebit  et  natura, 
Quum  resurget  creatura 
Judicanti  responsura. 


DIES    1RJE. 

Liber  scriptus  proferetur, 
In  quo  totum  continetur, 
De  quo   mundus  judicetui. 

Judex  ergo  quum  sedebit, 
Quidquid  latet,  apparebit, 
Nil  inultum  remanebit. 

Quod  sum  miser  tunc  di£turus, 
Quern  patronum   rogaturus, 
Quum   vix  juftus   fit  securus  ? 

Rex  tremendae   majeftatis, 
Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis, 
Salva  me,   fons  pietatis! 

Recordare,  Jesu  pie, 
Quod   sum   causa  tuae   vias, 
Ne  me  perdas  ilia  die  ! 

Quaerens   me  sedifti  lafl'us, 
Redemifti  crucem  paflus  : 
Tantus  labor  non  fit  cafTus ! 


DIES    IR^. 


Jufte  Judex   ultionis, 
Donum   fac   remiffionis 


Ingemisco  tanquam   reus, 
Culpa  rubet  vultus  meus  : 
Supplicanti   parce,   Deus  ! 

Qui   JVLriam  absolvifti, 
Et  latronem   exaudifti, 
Mihi   quoque   spem   dediiti. 

Praeces   meas  non   sunt  dignar. 
Sed   tu   bonus   fac  benigne 
Ne  pcrenni  cremer  igne  ! 

Inter  oves  locum   praefta, 
Et  ab   haedis   me  sequeftra, 
Statuens  in  parte  dextra ! 

Confutatis   maledi&is, 
Flammis  acribus  addictis, 
Voca   me  cum   benedictis  ! 


DIES     IRJE. 

Oro  supplex  et  acclinis, 
Cor  contritum   quasi   cinis 
Gere   curam   mei   finis  ! 

Lachrymosa  dies   ilia, 
Qua  resurget  ex   favilla, 
Judicandus   homo  reus  : 
Huic  ergo  parce,   Deus ! 


I. 


AY  of  wrath,  that  day  of  burning, 
Seer  and  Sibyl  speak  concerning, 
All  the  world   to  afhes  turning. 


Oh,   what  fear  fhall  it  engender, 

When  the  Judge  fhall  come  in  splendor, 

Strict  to  mark  and  juft  to  render  ! 

Trumpet,  scattering  sounds  of  wonder, 
Rending  sepulchres  asunder, 
Shall  resiftless  summons  thunder. 


All  aghaft  then   Death   fhall  fhiver, 
And  great  Nature's   frame  fhall  quiver, 
When  the  graves  their  dead  deliver. 


DIES    IRjE. 

Book,  where  actions  are  recorded, 

All  the  ages   have  afforded, 

Shall   be   brought  and  dooms  awarded. 

When  fhall  fit  the  Judge  unerring, 
He'll  unfold  all  here  occurring, 
No  juft  vengeance  then  deferring. 

What  fhall  /  say,  that  time   pending  ? 
Ask  what  advocate's  befriending, 
When  the  juft  man  needs  defending  ? 

Dreadful  King,  all  power  poflefling, 

Saving  freely  those  confefling, 

Save  thou   me,   O   Fount  of  Blefling  ! 

Think,  O  Jesus,  for  what  reason 

Thou  didft  bear  earth's  spite  and  treason, 

Nor  me  lose  in  that  dread  season  ! 

Seeking  me  Thy  worn   feet  hafted, 
On  the  cross  Thy  soul  death  tafted  : 
Let  such  travail  not  be  wafted ! 


DIES    IRJE. 


Righteous  Judge  of  retribution  ! 
Make   me  gift  of  absolution 
Ere  that  day  of  execution  ! 

Culprit-like,   I   plead,   heart-broken, 
On  my  cheek  fhame's  crimson  token  : 
Let  the  pardoning  word  be  spoken ! 

Thou,  who  Mary  gav'ft  remiflion, 
Heard'ft   the  dying  Thief's   petition, 
Cheer'ft  with   hope   my  loft  condition. 

Though   my  prayers   be  void  of  merit, 
What  is  needful,  Thou  confer  it, 
Left  I   endless  fire  inherit  ! 

Be  there,  Lord,   my  place  decided 
With  Thy  fheep,  from  goats  divided, 
Kindly  to  Thy  right  hand  guided  ! 

When  th*  accursed  away  are  driven, 

To  eternal  burnings  given, 

Call  me  with  the  blessed  to   heaven! 


DIES    IRJE. 

I  beseech  Thee,  proftrate  lying, 
Heart  as  afhes,  contrite,  fighing, 
Care  for  me  when  I  am  dying  ! 

Day  of  tears  and  late  repentance, 
Man  fhall  rise  to  hear  his  sentence 
Him,  the  child  of  guilt  and  error, 
Spare,  Lord,  in  that  hour  of  terror  ! 


II. 


^?  AY   fhall  dawn  that  has   no  morrow, 
ft     Day  of  vengeance,  day  of  sorrow, 
#    As  from   Prophecy  we  borrow. 

It  mail  burn,  that  day  of  trouble, 
As  a  furnace   heated  double, 
And  the  wicked   fhall  be   ltubble. 

O,  what  trembling,  when  the  rifted 
Skies  fhall  fhow  the  Judge  uplifted, 
And  all  ftrictly  fhall  be   fifted! 

Trump  fhall  sound  a  blaft  appalling, 
On  the  grave's  deep  flillness  falling, 
Small  and  great  before   Him   calling. 

Death   with   fear  fhall  be  o'ertaken, 
Nature  to   her  base  be  fhaken, 
When   the   fleeping  dead   fhall   waken. 


DIES     IRJE. 

Volume  fhall  be  brought,  whose  pages 

Regifter  the  deeds  of  ages, 

Whence  the  world  mall  have  juft  wages. 

When  that  Court  mall   hold   its  seffion, 
Every  mouth   mail  make  confeffion, 
Left  unpuni fried  no  transgreffion. 

How,  alas  !   in  that  dread   season, 
Shall  I   answer  for  my  treason, 
When  the  righteous   fear  with  reason  ? 

Awful   King,  who  nothing  craveft, 
Since  Thyself  full  ransom  gaveft, 
Save  Thou   me,  who   freely  savelt! 

Me,   for  whom,  with  love  so  tender, 
Thou  didft  leave  Thy  throne  of  splendor, 
Jesus,  do  not  then  surrender  ! 

Wearily   for  me  Thou  toiledfr, 
Diedft   for  me  and   Satan  spoiledft  : 
Let  not  triumph  whom   Thou   foiledlt  ! 


DIES     IRi'E.  I  I 

Thou,   whose   frown  will   be  damnation, 
Grant   me  earneft  of  salvation, 
Ere  that  day  of  consummation  ! 

Culprit-like,   I,  self-convicted, 
Blufhing,  proitrate,  and   afflicted, 
Kneel   for  mercy   unreftricted. 

Thou,  who  A4ary's   faith  rewardedft, 
Pardon   to  the  Thief  accordedft, 
Me,  too,   trembling  hope  affordedft. 

Poor  my  prayers,  but  give  ensample 
Of  Thy  goodness  rich  and  ample, 
Left  insulted  Juftice  trample  ! 

With  Thy  chosen   flock  unspotted, 
Severed   from  the  herd  besotted, 
Be  my  place  that  day  allotted  ! 

When  Thy   curse  fhall  blaft  and  wither, 

Doom  to  hell  and   banifh   thither, 

Bid   me   with   the  bleffed,  Come   hither  ! 


I  2 


DIES     IR^E. 


Care   for  me  as  one  who  feareth, 
One  who  hafteth   when  he  heareth, 
When  my  solemn  exit  neareth! 

When   the  light  of  that  day  flafhes> 
And   man   rises   from  his  afhes 
At  Thy  bar  account  to  render, 
Spare  then,   Lord,   the  pale  offender  ! 


III. 

AY   of  Vengeance  and  of  Wages, 
Fiery  goal  of  all   the  ages, 
Burden  of  prophetic  pages  ! 


Guilty  wretches,  vainly  fleeing 

From  that  flaming  Eye,  whose  seeing 

Searches  all  the  depths  of  being. 

Wakened  by  that  Trump  of  Wonder, 
Answering  Earthquakes,  roaring  under, 
Heave  and  split  the  ground  asunder ; 

And  the  buried  generations, 
People  of  all  times  and   nations, 
Live  again  and  take  their  ftations, 


Each   immortal  pale  offender, 

Round  the  Great  White  Throne  of  Splendor, 

Stricl:  account  to  God  to  render ; 


1^.  DIES    1RJE. 

Who,  unmocked  and  unmiftaken, 
Shall  pronounce  the  doom  unfhaken, 
And  long  flumbering  vengeance  waken. 

What  if  weighed  and  found  deficient  ? 
Standing  at    that   bar  omniscient, 
Who  hath  righteousness  sufficient  ? 

King  of  Holiness   unspotted, 
By  Thy  merit  me  allotted 
Let  my  guilt  be  freely  blotted  ! 

Me,  for  whom  Thou  fhame  didft  borrow, 
Trod'ft  the  paths  of  earthly  sorrow, 
Lose  not  on  that  dreadful   morrow! 

Seeking  me  Thou  weary  sankeft, 

All  my  cup  of  trembling  drankeft, 

Nor  from  death,  to  save  me,  shrankeft. 

Muft  I  fink  yet  to  perdition  ? 

God  of  Vengeance,  grant  remiffion, 

Ere  that  Day  of  Inquifition  ! 


DIES    IR.fE.  15 

Filled   with   fhame  and  confternation. 
Lifting  hands  of  supplication, 
Spare  me,  God  of  my  Salvation  ! 

Let  such  grace  be   manifefted, 

As  on  weeping  Mary  refted, 

As  was  towards  the  Thief  attefled  1 

Though  no  worth  in  me  discerning, 
Spurn  not,  though  I  merit  spurning; 
Rescue  me  from  endless  burning  ! 

When  divifion  is  effected 

'Mong  the  race  of  men  collected, 

Leave  me  not  with  the  rejected  ! 

When  Thy  curse  from  Thee  mall  sever, 
Kindling  hells,  extinguifhed  never, 
Join  me  to  Thyself  forever ! 

From  the  afhes  of  contrition, 
From  the  depths  I   make   petition  : 
Grant  my  soul  a  safe   dismifiion  ! 


i6 


DIES      IRJE. 


When  that  day  (hall  snare   th'   unwary, 
And  {hall  guilty  man  unbury, 
Spare  me  then,  Dread   Adversary  ! 


IV. 

:>AY   of  Prophecy!   it  flames, 

:i    Falling  spheres    together  dafhes, 

$    And   the  world   consumes  to  afhes. 

m 

O,   what  fear  of  wrath  impending, 
When  the  Judge  is  seen   descending, 
Inquiiition   ltrict  intending ! 

God's  awakening  Trump  fhall  scatter 
Summons   through   the   world   of  matter, 
And  the  Throne  of  Death   fhall  matter. 

What  amazement,  when   forgotten 
Generations,  dead  and  rotten, 
Suddenly  are  rebegotten ! 

Book  and   Record   universal 
Shall  be  opened   for  rehearsal, 
Whence  the  doom  without  reversal. 


(  DIES    1RJE. 

When  by  that  dread  Judge  inspected, 
Nothing  fhall   pass   undetected, 
Unavenged   nor   uncorrected. 

How  fhall  I,  a  wretch   unliable, 

Bide  that  hour  inevitable, 

When  the  juft  man  scarce  is  able  ? 

Dreadful   King,   from  Thee,  the  Giver, 
Flows  salvation  like  a  river  : 
Fount  of  Mercy,  me  deliver ! 

Thou,  who,  touched  with  my  condition, 
Sought  to  save  me  from  perdition, 
Be  Thou  mindful  of  Thy  million ! 

Let  Thy  death  for  my  offences, 
Horror  of  Thy  soul  and  senses, 
Be  not  void  of  consequences ! 

Blot  my  fins,  ere  that  revifion, 
Day  of  ultimate  decifion, 
When  Thy  foes  are  in  derifion  ! 


DIES    IRJE. 

From  my  eyes  repentance  gufhes, 

O'er  my  cheeks  spread  crimson   blufhes  : 

Spare  the  worm  Thy  terror  crufhes  ! 

Thou,  who  wert  of  old   moft.  gracious 
Ev'n  to  Tinners   moft  audacious, 
Is  Thy  mercy  now  less   spacious  ? 

Worthless  all  the  prayers  I  offer  : 
Grace  muft  seal  what  grace  doth   proffer, 
Else  I  perifh  with  the  scoffer. 

When  Thou  makeft  separation, 
With  Thy  sheep  affign   my  ftation, 
Saints  of  every  age  and  nation  ! 

When  the  malison  eternal 

Banifhes   to  fires   infernal, 

Bid  me  enter  realms  supernal ! 

Thou,  who  doft,  with   care   unfleeping, 
Keep  that  trufted  to  Thy  keeping, 
Save  my  eves  from  endless  weeping  ! 


20 


DIES    \RJE. 


Day  of  tears,   consuming,   cruel, 
With   a  burning  world   for  fuel, 
Man  mall   rise   from  glowing  embers, 
Made  complete   in  all   his   members  : 
Ah!  what  plea  will  then   be   valid, 
When  the  firmer,  trembling,   pallid, 
Waits  to   hear  his   sentence  given? 
Spare  him  then,   O   God  of  Heaven! 


AY  of  vengeance,   end   of  scorning, 

p    World  in  afhes,   world  in   mourning, 

&    Whereof  Prophets   utter  warning  ! 
J® 

O,  what  trembling,  when  the  falling 
Rocks  and   mountains  hear  men  calling, 
"Hide   me  from  that  face  appalling!  " 

Freezing  fear  the  blood   will  thicken, 
Death  and    Hell   be   horror-ftricken, 
When  the   myftic  Trump  fhall  quicken 

All  the  buried  duft  of  ages, — 
Monarchs,  chieftains,   ftatesmen,  sages, 
Actors  on  unnumbered   ftages, — 

Summoned   to  the  dread  recital 
Of  that  Record   drift  and   vital, 
Basis  of  a  juft  requital. 


22  DIES    1RJE. 

Every  mafk  of  falsehood  riven, — 
Guilt,   from  every  covert  driven, 
Shall  to  punifhment  be  given. 

'Mid  the   horror  and  confufion 
Of  that  sorrowful   conclufion 
Of  each   miserable  delufion, 

Whither,  ah!  mail   I   betake   me? 

Thou,  O  King,  whose  terrors  make  me, 

Of  Thy  grace  a  trophy  make  me! 

Jesus  !  by  Thine  incarnation, 
By  Thy  miffion  of  salvation, 
Then  avert  jurt  condemnation ! 

By  Thy  pity,  love  unfailing, 
By  the  cross's  bitter  nailing, 
Let  not  all  be  unavailing  ! 

Dread  Avenger  of  transgreflion, 
Cleanse  these  lips  that  make  confeflion, 
Ere  th'  awards  of  that  laft  seflion. 


DIES    IRiE. 

Spare  a  culprit,  groans   faft   heaving, 
Self-convicted,   blufhing,  grieving, 
In   Thy  power  and  grace  believing. 

Since   Thy   nature  doth   not   vary, 

Thou,   who   heard'ft  the   Thief  and   Mary, 

My  transgreffions   blot  and  bury  ! 

Worthless   works  behind   me  catting— 
Grace   muft  save,   not  prayer  nor  fafting, 
From  the  fire  that's  everlatting. 

On   Thy  right  hand   fix  my  ftation 
With   the  chosen  generation, 
In  the  fheep-fold   of  salvation  ! 

When   Thy  curse  the   wicked  chases, 
With   the  bleft  in   heavenly  places 
Call   me  to   Thy   dear  embraces ! 

Care  for  me,  whom  guilt  abafhes, 
Proftrate,  contrite,  heart  as  afhes, 
When   that  day   of  terror   flames  ! 


23 


DIES    IRJE. 

Day  of  weeping   and   of  wailing, 
Human  hearts  and   fates   unveiling  : 
Then,  when  Time  fhall   be  no  longer, 
And  the  ftrong  yields   to  the   Stronger, 
Death   and   Hell   their  dead    surrender, 
And   the   Sea  its  own  fhall   tender, 
Multitudinous,   unbounded 
Generations   rise  aftounded, 
Each  to  answer  for  his   finning, 
He  who  lived  at  the  beginning, 
He  who  when   the  world   is   hoary, — 
Spare,   O,  spare,  Thou   God  of  Glorv! 


VI. 

o)  AY   of  wrath   and   conifernation, 
)    Day  of  fiery   consummation, 
'$>    Prophelied   in   Revelation ! 

O,   what   horror  on  all   faces, 

When  the  coming  Judge  each   traces, 

Flaming,  dreadful,  in  all   places  ! 

Trump  mail  sound,  and  every  Tingle 
Mortal  slumberer's  ears  (hall  tingle, 
And   the  dead   mall  rise  and   mingle  : 

All  of  every  tribe  and  nation, 
That  have  lived   fince  the  creation, 
Answering  that  dread  citation. 

Volume,  from  which   nothing's  blotted, 

Evil  done  nor  evil   plotted, 

Shall  be  brought  and  dooms   allotted. 

4 


26 


DIES     IRJE. 


Judge,  who  fits  at  that  affizes, 
Shall,  deceived  by  no  disguises, 
Try   each   work  that  man  devises. 

How   mail   I,  a  wretch   polluted, 

Answer  then   to   fins   imputed, 

When  the  juft  man's  case  is   mooted  ? 

Awful  Monarch  of  Creation  ! 
Saving  without  compensation, 
Save   me,   Fountain  of  Salvation! 

Lose   me  not  then,  Jefus,  seeing 
I   am   Thine  by  gift  of  being, 
Doubly  Thine  by  price  of  freeing ! 

Thou,   the  Lord  of  Life  and   Glory, 
Hung'ft  a  victim  gafhed  and  gory: 
Let  not  all  be  nugatory! 

Pardon,  Thou  whose   vengeance  smiteth, 
But  whom   mercy   mod  delighteth, 
Ere  that  reckoning  day  affrighteth ! 


DIES    IR^E, 


27 


As  a  culprit,  Hand  I  groaning, 
Blufhing,  my  demerit  owning  : 
Sprinkle   me   with   blood   atoning  I 

Thou,  who  Mary's  sins  remitted**, 
And  the  softened  Thief  acquittedft, 
Likewise   hope  to   me  permitted*!:. 

Weak  these  prayers  Thy  throne  availing; 
But  let  grace,  o'er  guilt  prevailing, 
Save   me   from   eternal  wailing ! 

While  the  goats  afar  are  driven, 
'Mid   Thy  fheep   me  place   be  given, 
Blood-wafhed   favorites  of  Heaven  ! 

While  "Depart!''   mall  doom  and  gather 
Those  to  flame,  address   me  rather: 
"  Come  thou   blefTed  of  my  Father  !  " 

In   my  final   hour,  when   faileth 

Heart  and  flefh,  and   my  cheek   paleth, 

Grant  that  succor  which  availeth ! 


28 


DIES     1RJE. 


Day   unutterably  solemn  : 
Crypt  and   pyramid   and   column, 
Ifle  and   continent  and  ocean, 
Rocking  with   a  fearful  motion, 
Shall  give   up,  a  countless   number 
Starting  from   their  long,  long  flumber, 
Horror  ftamping  every  feature, 
While   is  judged  each  linful  creature, 
End  of  pending  controversy  : 
Spare  Thou  then,   O   God  of  Mercy  ! 


VII. 

AY  of  wrath,  that  day  of  days, 
Present  to  my  thought  always, 
When     the    world     mail    burn     and 
blaze ! 


O,  what  trembling,  O,   what  fear, 
When  th'   Omniscient  Judge  draws  near, 
Scanning  all  with   eyes  severe ! 

When  the  Trump  of  God  (hall  sound 
Through  the  vague  and  vaft  profound 
Of  the  regions   under  ground  ; 

And  th'  innumerable  dead, 
Answering  to  that  summons  dread, 
Shall  forsake  their  dufty   bed  j 

And  that  Book  of  ancient  date 
Shall  be  opened,  whereon  wait 
Mighty  ifTues  big  with   fate  j 


30  DIES    IRjE. 

And  each  secret  thing  (hall  lie 
Thenceforth  bare  to  every  eye, 
Nought  unpunifhed  or  pafied  by. 

Ah,   me  !   what  mall   I   then  plead, 
Who  for  me  then   intercede, 
When  the  juft  of  help  have  need  ? 

Thou,  who  doft,  O    Heavenly  King, 
Free  forgiveness   freely  bring, 
Let  me  drink  of  Mercy's  Spring  ! 

Thou  didft  empty  and  exhauft 
Heaven   for  me  :   when   such  the  coft, 
Jesus,  let  me  not  be  loft ! 

Wearily  Thou  soughteft  me, 
Bought'ft  me  on  th'  accursed   tree  : 
Let  it  not  all   fruitless  be  ! 

Righteous  Judge,   who  wilt   repay, 
Grant  me  pardon,   ere    that  day 
Of  decifion  and  dismay  ! 


DIES    IRj£.  3! 

I,  a  finful  man  and  base, 
Blufhing,  groaning  o'er  my  case, 
Seek  and  supplicate   Thy  grace. 

Thou,  who   heardeft  Mary's   fighs, 
Thou,   who  openedft   Paradise 
To  the  Thief,  regard  my  cries  ! 

Worthless  are   my  prayers  and   worse, 
But,  good   Lord,   be  not  adverse, 
Left  I   fink  beneath  the  curse  ! 

Set   me,  when   at  Thy  command 

All  mankind  divided   ftand, 

With   the  fheep  at  Thy  right  hand  ! 

When  th'   insufferable  doom 
Shall  the  reprobate  consume, 
With  Thy  chosen  give   me  room  ! 

In  the  solemn  hour  of  death, 
When  the  earthly  vanilheth, 
O,  receive   my  parting  bieath! 


32  DIES    IRJE. 

Ah !  that  day  made   up  of  tears, 

When  from  afhes   reappears 

Th'   Adam  of  fix  thousand  years, — 

Who,  by  its  red  glare  and  gleam, 
Sees,  as  in  an  awful  dream, 
Juftice  lift  her  trembling  beam, — 

Conscious  on  that  hinge  of  fate 
All  things  hang  and  hefitate  : 
Spare  then,   Lord,   if  not  too  late ! 


VIII. 

THAT  dreadful  day,  my  soul  ! 
Which  the  ages  fhall   unroll, 
When   the    knell    of  Time    fhall 
toll! 


O,  the  terror  and   the  fhame, 
When  the  Judge   with  eyes  of  flame 
Shall  make  piercing  search  of  blame! 

Suddenly  the  Trumpet's  fhock 
Doors  of  Hades  fhall  unlock, 
And  before   Him  all  fhall  flock. 

Struck  with   wonder  and  dismay, 
Death  and   Nature  fhall  obey 
Summons  to  give  up  their  prey. 

Loudly  each   indictment  dread 
Shall  in  every   ear  be  read 
Of  the  living  and  the  dead. 
5 


34  DIES    1RJE. 

Every  idle   word  and   thought, 
Every  work  in  secret  wrought, 
Into  Judgment  mall   be  brought. 

Scarce  the  juft   man's  case   is  sure, 
Scarce  the   heavens  themselves  are  pure 
Ah  !   how  then   mail  I   endure  ? 

Dreadful   Potentate  and   high, 

Who  doft  freely  juftify, 

Fount  of  Grace,   my  need  supply! 

Jefus,  mind  the  kind  intent 
Of  Thy  weary  banifhment, 
And   my  ruin   then  prevent ! 

Let  Thy  paffion  and  Thy  pain, 
All  Thou  sufferedfr.  me  to  gain, 
Be  not  barren  and  in   vain  ! 

Righteous   Arbiter  of  fate  ! 

Life  and  death  upon  Thee  wait, 

Pardon,   ere   it  be  too  late  ! 


DIES     IRJE.  ~ 

Spare  me,   vileft  of  the   race, 
Guilty,   infamous  and   base, 
Bluming  mendicant  of  grace  ! 

Though  of  finners   I  be  chief, 

Hear  me,   Thou   who   heard'ft   the  Thief, 

Driedft  the   fount  of  Mary's  grief! 

AH   my   prayers   are  guilty   breath, 
And   the  beft  nought  meriteth  : 
But  in   mercy  save   from   death! 

When,  disposed  on  either  hand, 
All  mankind  before  Thee  ftand, 
Set  me  with   Thy  chosen  band  ! 

When,   O,  terrible  to   tell! 

Yawns  inevitable    Hell, 

With   the  blefTed   bid   me  dwell! 

When   I  reach   the  awful  goal, 
And   Death's  billows  o'er  me  roll 
Care  for  my  undying  soul! 


36 


DIES    IRiE. 


Day  of  weeping  and  surprise, 
Opening  tombs   and  opening  eyes, 
Rocking  earth  and  burning  fkies  ! 

Day  of  universal  dread, 

When  the  quick  and  quickened  dead 

Shall  have  solemn  sentence  said  ! 

Then,  O,  then,  when  in  despair, 
Man  fhall  speak  or  fhriek  the  prayer, 
"  Spare  me  !  "   God  of  Mercy,  spare  ! 


IX. 

AY   foretold,  that  day   of  ire, 
l)    Burden  erit  of  David's  lyre, 
$J    When    the  world   fhall   fink  in 
'  fire  ! 


O,  what   horror  and  amaze, 
When  at  once  on   mortal  gaze 
All   the  Judge's   pomp  fhall  blaze! 

When  the   Trumpet's   myftic  blaft, 
To  the  world's   four  corners  caft, 
Disentombs   the  buried    Paft  ; 

And  from  all  the   heaving  sod, 
From  each  foot  of  trampled  clod, 
Starts  a   multitude  to  God  ; 

And  that  Volume  is   unrolled 
Wherein  are   minutely  told 
All  men's  doings   from  of  old  ; 


38  DIES    JRJE. 

While,  from  what  is  there  contained, 
Shall  be  judged  a  world   arraigned, 
And   eternal   fates  ordained  : 

What  defence  can  I   then  make, 

To  what  Patron   me  betake, 

When  the  righteous   fear  and  quake  ? 

King,  who  doft  all  power  poffess, 
Free  Thy  grace  and  limitless, 
Save  me,  Fount  of  Blefledness  ! 

Jefus,  Matter,  Thou  doft  know 
I  Thy  miffion  caused  below, 
All  Thy  weariness  and  woe  ! 

Let  Thy   blood,  that  drenched  the   hilt 
Of  that  sword  unfheathed  for  guilt, 
Be  not  vainly  fhed  and  spilt  ! 

O   my  Judge,  forgive,  forget ! 
Cancel  my  tremendous  debt, 
Ere  the  sun  of  grace  fhall  set  ! 


DIES    1RJE.  J.-) 

Filled   with   {ha me  I   hang   my   head, 
Blufhes  deep   my   face  o'erspread  : 
Stay  Thy  lightnings   fierce  and  red  ! 

Thou  canft  darkeft  ftains  efface  ; 
Haft   made  monuments  of  grace 
Of  the  vileft  of  the  race. 

My  poor  prayers   please  not  repel  ! 
Grace  and  goodness   with   Thee  dwell  : 
Snatch   me   from  the   flames  of  Hell ! 

When  Thou  fhalt  discriminate, 
Sheep  from  goats  fhalt  separate, 
Let  me  on  Thy  right  hand   wait  ! 

When  Thy  sentence,  smiting  dumb, 
Down  to   Hell  fhall    banifh   some, 
With  the  bleffed  bid   me  come ! 

To  Thy  care,   O   Kind  as  Juft  ! 
Heart  all   penitential  duft, 
I   my  end   commit  and   truft  ! 


4o 


DIES    IR^E. 


Floods  of  tears  that  day  fhall  pour ; 
Man  fhall   wake  to   deep   no  more  ; 
Guilty,   horribly  afraid  : 
Spare  him,   Lord,  whom   Thou  haft  made  ! 


X, 


gg*»  O  !    it  comes,   with   itealthy   feet, 
3    Day,   the    ages    fhall    complete, 
:>    When  the  world   ihall   melt  with 
*  heat! 

O,   what  trembling  mall  there  be, 
When   all   eyes   the  Judge  mail   see, 
Come  to  lift   iniquity  ! 

Trump   mall  syllable  command, 
And  the  dead  of  sea  and   land 
All  before  the   Throne  fhall  ftand. 

Death   fhall   fhudder,   Nature  too, 
When  the  creature  lives  anew, 
Called   to  render  answer  true. 

Volume,  that  omitteth   nought 
Man   e'er  said  or  did  or  thought, 
Shall   for  sentence  then   be  brought. 


42  DIES    IRJE. 

When   fhall  fit  the  Judge  severe, 
All  that's  dark  fhall   be   made  clear, 
Nothing  unavenged  appear. 

What,  alas !  (hall   I   then   say, 

To  what  IntercefTor  pray, 

When   the  juft  fhrink  with   dismay? 

Awful   King,   fince  all  is  free, 
Without  merit,   without  fee, 
Fount  of  Mercy,  save  Thou  me  ! 

Mind,   O   Jesus,   Friend   fincere, 
How   I   caused  Thy  advent  here, 
Nor  me   lose  who  coft  so  dear  ! 

Straying,   I  by  Thee  was  sought, 
On  the  cross  with   blood  was  bought 
Let  it  not  be  all  for  nought  ! 

Righteous  Judge!   Avenging  Lord! 
Full  remiffion   me  afford, 
Ere  that   final  day's  award  ! 


DIES    IKJ£.  43 

Groan   I,  like  a  culprit  base, 
Conscious  o;uilt  inflames  my  face  : 
Spare   the  suppliant,  God   of  Grace  ! 

Thou,   who  erft  didft   Mary  clear, 
And   the  dying  Thief   didft   hear, 
Hope   haft  given   me  to  cheer. 

Though   my  prayers  create  no  claim, 
Be  propitious,  Lord,  the  same, 
Left  I  burn   in   endless  flame! 

Place  among  Thy  fheep  provide, 
From  the  goats  me  sunder  wide, 
Standing  safe  at  Thy  right  fide  ! 

While  "Depart!"   to  foes  addrefled 

Banifheth  to  woes   unguelTed, 

Call   me  near  Thee  with   the  bleiTed ! 

Contrite   pangs   my  bosom  tear, 
Heart  as  afhes  :   hear  my  praver, 
Let  my   end  be  not  despair! 


++ 


DIES     IRJE. 


On   that  day  of  grief  and   dread, 
When   man,  rifing  from   the  dead, 
Shall  eternal  juftice  face, 
Spare  the   (inner,  God  of  Grace  ! 


XI. 

£,  A  Y  of  wrath,  that  day  of  dole, 

When  a  fire  fhall  wrap  the  whole, 

And  the  earth  be  burnt  to  coal  ! 


O,  what  horror,  smiting  dumb 
When  the  Judge  of  all  fhall  come, 
Sinful  deeds  to  search   and  sum ! 

Trump's  reverberating  roar 
Through  the  sepulchres  fhall  pour, 
Citing  all  the  Throne  before. 

Death  and  Nature  ftand  aghaft, 
While  the  dead  in  numbers  vaff. 
Rise  to  answer  for  the  paft. 

Volume,   writ  by  God's  own   pen, 

Chronicling  the  deeds  of  men, 

Shall  be  brought,  and   dooms  be  then. 


46  DIES    lRi"E. 

When  the  Judge  mall  sit,  behold  ! 
What  is  secret   He'll  unfold, 
No  juft  punifhment  withhold. 

Ah  !  what  plea  fhall  I   prepare, 
To  what   Patron  make   my   prayer, 
When  the  juft  well-nigh   despair  ? 

King,   majeftic  beyond   thought, 
Whose  free  grace  cannot  be  bought, 
Save  me,  whose  desert  is  nought ! 

O,  remember,  Jefus,  I 

Was  the  cause  and   reason  why 

Thou  didft  come  on  earth  to  die  ! 

Me  Thou  sought'ft  with   weary   feet, 
And   my  ransom  didft  complete  : 
Let  such   pity  nought  defeat ! 

Judge,  inflexible  and   ftric~t, 
Pardon,  ere  that  day  convict 
And  th'   unchanging  doom   inflict  ! 


DIES     1RJE. 

Like  a  criminal   I   sigh, 
Blufhing,   penitently  cry  : 
Pass,   Lord,   my  offences   by  ! 

Thou,  who  Mary  erft  did'ft  bless, 
Heard'ft  the  Thief  in  his  diftress, 
Hope  haft  given  me  no  less. 

Worthless  are   my  prayers  and   vain, 
But  in  love  do  not  disdain, 
Left  I  reap  eternal  pain  ! 

On  Thy  right  hand  grant  me  place 
'Mid  the  fheep,  a  chosen  race, — 
Far  from  goats  devoid  of  grace ! 

When  the  thunder  of  Thine   ire 
Headlong  hurls   to  quenchless   fire, 
Let  Thy  welcome   me   inspire  ! 

I  entreat  Thee,  bending  low, 
Heart  as  afhes,  full  of  woe, 
Succor  in   my  end   beftow  ! 


+8 


DIES    IRJE, 


When  upon  that  day  of  tears 
Man  from  duft  again  appears, 
Fate  depending  on  Thy  nod  : 
Spare  the  finner  then,  O   God  ! 


XII. 

DAY   of  wrath  !    O   dav  of  fate! 

j 

Day  foreordained  and   ultimate, 
When    all    things    here    fhall    termi 
nate  ! 


What  numbers   horribly  afraid, 

When  comes  the  Judge,   in   fear  arraved, 

To  try  the  creatures   He  hath   made  ! 

The  blare  of  Trumpet,  pealing  clear, 

Shall  through  the  sepulchres  career, 

And  wake  the  dead,  and  bring  them   near. 

Aftonifhed   Nature  then  fhall  quail, 
What  time  the  yawning  graves   unveil, 
And  man  comes  forth,  amazed  and  pale, 

To  answer  :     The  o'erwritten  scroll 
Shall  charge  and   certify  the  whole, 
Whence  fhall  be  judged   each   human   soul. 

7 


5C  DIES    1RJ£. 

The  Judge  enthroned   ihall  bring  to  light 
Whate'er  is   hid,   in  open   fight 
Avenge  and   vindicate  the  right. 

Ah  !   with   what  plea  (hall  I   then   come, 
When,  terror-locked,   each  sense  is  numb, 
And  even   righteous  lips  are  dumb  ? 

O   King  immortal  and  supreme, 

Whose   fear  is  great,   whose  grace  extreme, 

Make   me  to  drink  of  Mercy's   ftream*! 

Remember,  Jefus,   Thou  didft   make 
Thyself  incarnate  for  my  sake, 
Left   Hell  insatiate  claim  and  take! 

Thou  soughteft  me  when  far  aftray, 
Didft  on  the  cross  my  ransom  pay  : 
Let  not  such  love  be  thrown  away  ! 

Juft  Judge,  of  purity  intense, 
Remit  my  infinite  offence, 
Before  that  day  of  recompense  ! 


DIES    IRi*.  51 

Like  one  convinced   of  heinous  deed, 
I  groan,   I   weep,  I   blufh,   I   plead  : 
Lord,  spare  me  in  that  hour  of  need  ! 

Thou,  who  wert   moved  by  Mary's   tears, 
Absolved  the   Robber   from  his   fears, 
Haft  given  me  hope  in  former  years. 

My  prayers  are  worthless   well   I   know  ; 
But,  good,  do  Thou  Thy  goodness  fhow, 
And  save  me  from  impending  woe  ! 

Number  and  place   me  'mong  Thy  own, 
Beneath  the  fhelter  of  Thy  Throne, 
Until  Thy  wrath   be  overblown! 

When  that  the  almighty  word   fhall  leap 
From  out  Thy  Throne,   Thy  foes  to  sweep, 
My  soul  in  perfect  safety   keep  ! 

In  proftrate   worfhip,  I   implore, 
With  heart  all  penitent  and  sore  : 


DIES     1RJE. 


Ah  !  on   that  day  of  grief  and   dread, 

And   resurrection  of  the  dead, 

Of  trial  and  of  juft  award, 

In  wrath  remember  mercy,  Lord  ! 


XIII. 


2,  HAT  day,  that  awful  day,  the  laft, 
v@4    Result  and  sum  of  all   the   Paft, 


m 


^^1 


Great  neceflary  day  of  doom, 
When  wrecking    fires  mail    all   con- 


What  dreadful  fhrieks  the  air  mail  rend, 
When   all  mall  see  the  Judge  descend, 
And   hear  th'   Archangel's  echoing  fhout 
From   heavenly  spaces  ringing  out  ! 

The  Trump  of  God   with  quickening  breath 
Shall  pierce  the   filent  realms  of  Death, 
And   sound   the  summons  in   each   ear  : 
"  Arise  !   thy  Maker  calls  !   Appear  !  " 

From   eaft  to  weft,   from   south   to  north, 
The  earth   mail   travail  and  bring  forth  ; 


54  DIES    IRiE. 

As  desert's  sands  and  ocean's  waves 
Shall   be  the  sum  of  empty  graves. 

TV  unchanging  Record  of  the  Paft 
Shall  then  be  read  from  firft.  to  laft  ; 
And  out  of  things  therein  contained, 
Shall  all  be  judged  and   fates  ordained. 

No  lying  tongue,  that  truth  diftorts, 
Shall  witness  in  that  Court  of  Courts  , 
Each  secret  thing  fhall   be  revealed, 
And  every  righteous  sentence  sealed. 

Ah !  who  can   ftand   when   He  appears  ? 
Confront  the  guilt  of  finful  years  ? 
What  hope   for  me,  a  wretch   depraved, 
When   scarce  the  righteous   man   is  saved  ? 

Dread   Monarch  of  the   Earth   and    Heaven ! 
For  that  salvation's  great  'tis  given  ; 
And   fince  the  boon   is   wholly   free, 
O   Fount  of  Pity,  save  Thou   me  ! 


DIES     IR^E.  55 

Remember,  Jefus,   how   my  case 
Once   moved  Thy  pity  and   Thy  grace, 
And   brought  Thee  down  on   earth   to  Hay  : 
O,  lose  me  not,  then,  on  that  day ! 

I   seek   Thee,  who  didrr.   seek  me   firft, 
Weary  and  hungry  and  athirft  ; 
Didft  pay  my  ransom  on  the  tree  : 
Let   not  such  travail   frultrate  be  ! 

Juft  Judge  of  vengeance  in   the  end, 
Now  in  the  accepted  time  befriend ! 
My  fins,   O,  gracioufly  remit, 
Ere  Thou  judicially  fhalt  fit! 

Low  at  Thy   feet  I  groaning  lie  ; 
With   bluming  cheek,   and   weeping  eye, 
And   ftammering  lips,   I   urge  the  prayer : 
O  spare  me,  God  of  Mercy,  spare  ! 

When  Mary   Thy   forgiveness  sought, 
Wept,  but  articulated   nought, 


56  DIES    IRJE. 

Thou  didft  forgive  ;   didft  hear  the  brief 
Petition  of  the  dying  Thief. 

On  grace  thus  great  my  hope  is  built 
That  Thou  wilt  cancel,   too,    my  guilt ; 
That,  though   my  prayers  are   worthless  breath, 
Thou  wilt  deliver  me   from  death. 

When   Thy  dividing  rod  of  might 
Appointeth   ftations  oppofite, 
Among  Thy  fheep  grant  me  to  ftand, 
Far  from  the  goats,  at  Thy  right  hand  ! 

And  when  despair  mail  seize  each   heart 
That  hears  the  dreadful  sound,   "Depart!" 
Be  mine,  the   heavenly  lot  of  some, 
To  hear  that  word  of  welcome,  M  Come  !  " 

I  come  to  Thee  with  trembling  trull, 
And   lay   my   forehead   in  the  duft  ; 
In   my  laft  hour  do  Thou  befriend, 
And  glorify  Thee  in   my  end! 


APPENDIX.— SEQUENCE. 


3GP  STATEMENT  of  the  order  observed 
y)  in  the  celebration  of  Mass  will  beft  ex- 
■\)  plain  the  nature  and  import  of  this  term, 
in  its  application  by  the  Romifh  Church 
to  a  large  body  of  hymns, — Daniel,  in  the  5th  vol- 
ume of  his  learned  and  laborious  work,  c<  Thesaurus 
Hymnologicus,"  citing  no  less  than  eight  hundred, 
the  laft  one  given  being  a  new  Sequence,  composed 
in  honor  of  the  Virgin  in  1855,  "  Sequentia  de  Beata 
Maria  Virgine  fine  Labe  Concepta,  Virgo  Virginum 
Praeclara." 

The  dispofition  of  parts  in  the  Mass  is  as  follows, 
viz.  :  1.  The  Introit,  which  is  the  part  sung  or 
chanted  when  the  prieft  enters  within  the  rails  of  the 
altar.  2.  The  Collect,  or  Prayer.  3.  Reading 
of  the  Epistle,  being,  in  the  Mass  for  the  Dead, 
1  Cor.  xv.  51-57,  or  Rev.  xiv.  13.  4.  The  Grad- 
ual, so  called  from  its  having  been  sung  or  chanted 
8 


58  SEQUENCE. 

formerly  from  the  fteps  (gracilis)  of  the  altar,  clofing 
with  the  Alleluia.  5.  The  Tract,  which  is 
omitted  when  the  Alleluia  is  sung  ;  otherwise  it  is 
sung  in  the  interval  to  prepare  for  the  following. 
The  primary  meaning  of  the  word  (from  traho,  to 
protract  or  draw  out)  is  adapted  to  suggeft  either  the 
use  here  indicated,  i.  e.  to  fill  up  time,  or  else  to  ex- 
press the  flow,  mournful  movement  which  character- 
izes the  chant.  6.  The  Sequence,  being,  in  the 
Mass  for  the  Dead,  the  Dies  Ir^e.  7.  Reading 
of  the  Gospel,  being,  in  the  Mass  for  the  Dead, 
John  v.  25-29.  8.  The  Offertory,  which  is  a 
fhort  sentence  that  varies.  9.  The  Secret,  a  brief 
prayer  recited  by  the  prieft  in  a  very  low  tone  of 
voice.  10.  Communion,  or  the  application  of  the 
Mass.      11.   Post-Communion. 

The  Sequence,  it  will  be  seen,  occupies  a  pofition 
exactly  midway,  being  juft  after  the  Gradual  and 
Tract,  and  immediately  before  the  Gospel.  The 
Reading  of  the  Gospel  happening  to  be  introduced  by 
the  words,  "  Sequentia  San£ti  Evangelii  secundum 
+ ,"  (The  Continuation  of  the  Holy  Gospel  ac- 
cording to ,)  some  have  supposed   that  the  term 

Sequentia  or  Sequence  was  derived  from  this  source. 
Michael    Praetorius  was   of   this  opinion.       But   the 


SEQUENCE.  59 

moft  approved  authorities  give  the  following  explana- 
tion of  its  origin. 

From  an  early  period,  it  was  the  cuftom  of  the 
Latin  Church  to  fing  the  Gradual  with  the  Alleluia 
between  the  Epiftle  and  the  Gospel  ;  the  Gradual 
being  completed,  the  Alleluia  followed  ;  and  in  order 
to  give  to  the  officiating  prieft  or  deacon  sufficient 
time  to  prepare  and  ascend  the  ambon  or  pulpit,  the 
choir  repeated  and  continued  the  laft  syllable  A 
through  a  series  of  notes.  This  neuma,  as  it  was 
called,  or  mufical  prolongation  of  a  letter,  was  named 
Sequentia,  because  it  was  sequent  to  and  governed 
by  the  melody  and  rhythm  of  the  Alleluia.  At  a 
later  period,  this  pafTage  of  notes  sung  without  text, 
constituting  the  original  form  of  the  Sequence,  came 
to  have  words  set  thereto,  thereby  preparing  the 
way  for  other  changes  ;  and  forasmuch  as  the  firft 
efTays  of  this  kind  were  unmetrical  in  their  ftrudture, 
the  term  Prosa  or  Prose  was  applied  by  way  of  dis- 
tinction to  this  species  of  compofition  ;  of  which 
Notker,  surnamed  the  Stammerer,  (Balbulus,)  who 
died  in  912,  canonized  in  15 14,  is  confidered  to  have 
been  trie  originator.  Gradually,  rhyme,  so  much 
and  so  fondly  cultivated  in  the  Middle  Ages,  found 
its  way  into  these  also  ;  and  from  the  twelfth  century 


60  SEQUENCE. 

onward,  Sequences  became  proper  metrical  son^s, 
differing  from  other  hymns  only  in  this,  that  the 
ftrophes,  inftead  of  four,  were  made  to  consist  of 
three  or  fix  lines,  according  as  they  were  double 
or  Tingle.  To  this  rule,  however,  there  were  some 
exceptions.  The  name  of  Prose,  although  not 
ftrictly  proper  in  its  application  to  metrical  composi- 
tions, continued  to  be  used,  nevertheless,  as  a  general 
title  for  all  Sequences  ;  and  so  we  find  the  Dies  Irae 
bearing  the  appellation  in  the  Mass-books  of  "  Prosa 
Ecclefiaftica  de  Mortuis." 

Defigned  in  the  firft  inftance,  as  alleged  by  Notker, 
merely  to  aflift  the  memory  in  retaining  the  long- 
drawn,  caudal  melodies  of  the  Alleluia,  the  defirable- 
ness  of  having  other  songs  for  the  Mass  than  the 
Gloria  in  Excelfis,  Kyrie,  Credo,  &c,  songs  eafier 
in  ftru&ure,  which  could  be  joined  in,  not  only  bv 
the  choir,  but  also  by  the  congregation, — perhaps, 
too,  the  wifh  to  introduce  greater  variety  into  the 
service,  and  bring  the  Tinging  into  closer  relation 
with  the  objects  of  particular  Church  feftivals,  which 
could  be  done  more  readily  by  these  Sequences, — 
caused  them  to  be  multiplied  greatly. 

But  the  Roman  ritual  finally  limited  them  to  four, 
viz.  :   Victimce  paschali  laudis,  S.  for  Eafter  Sunday  \ 


SEQUENCE.  OI 

Veni  Sancte  Spiritus,  S.  for  Whitsunday  and  St. 
Peter's  Day  ;  Lauda  Sion  Sahatorem,  S.  for  Solem- 
nity of  Corpus  Chrifti  ;  and  Dies  Ir<z,  S.  Mass  for 
the  Dead  and  All-Souls'  Day  ;  nevertheless,  other 
Mass-books  of  diocefes  and  monaftic  orders  con- 
tain more  Sequences.  The  Sequence  firft  named 
has  a  different  metre  from  the  other  three,  being  one 
of  those  rare  cafes  in  which  the  chara&eriftic  triplet 
form  of  the  ftrophe  is  departed  from.  The  second 
named,  Veni  Sancte  Spiritus,  which  Trench  speaks 
of  as  "  the  lovelieft,  though  not  the  grandeft,  of 
all  the  hymns  in  the  whole  circle  of  Latin  sacred 
poetry,"  contains  ten  ftrophes  of  three  lines  each. 
Its  author  was  Robert  the  Second,  son  of  Hugh 
Capet,  who  ascended  the  throne  of  France  in  the 
year  997,  and  died  in  1031.  Like  Henry  the  Sixth 
of  England,  of  a  meek  and  gentle  dispofition,  a  lov- 
er of  peace,  he  was  ill  suited  to  contend  with  the 
turbulent  and  reftless  spirits  who  surrounded  him, 
whose  delight  was  in  war.  The  next  Sequence  has 
twelve  double  ftrophes  of  fix  lines  each.  It  is  com- 
monly attributed  to  the  so-called  Angelical  Doctor, 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  The  laft,  which  is  the  Dies 
Irje,  grand  and  unapproachable  in  its  excellence, 
comprises  seventeen  ftrophes  of  three  lines  each,  and 
one  of  four  lines. 


ORIGIN    OF   LATIN    RHYME. 

HILE  it  is  true  that  the  Latin  hymns 
written  during  the  firft  centuries  of  the 
Chriftian  era  are,  speaking  generally, 
characterized  by  the  absence  of  rhyme, 
and  that  the  prevalence  of  rhyme  belongs  peculiarly 
and  almoft  exclufively  to  the  period  intervening 
between  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  the  Great  and 
that  of  Leo  X.,  it  would  be  a  great  error  to  suppose 
that  rhyme  was  then  firft  introduced,  or  that  it  was 
borrowed,  as  some  have  surmised,  from  the  Romance 
or  Gothic  languages.  If  we  look  for  its  origin,  we 
fhall  find  preludings  and  anticipations  of  it  in  every 
one  of  the  Latin  poets,  not  excepting  the  oldeft. 
Examples  of  both  middle  and  final  rhyme  occur  in 
all.    In  the  Introduction  to  Trench's  "  Sacred  Latin 


ORIGIN    OF    LATIN    RHYME.  63 

Poetry,"  where  this  whole  subject  is  ably  discufTed, 
we  have  a  collation  of  many  of  these.  Witness  the 
following.  An  ancient  author,  quoted  by  Cicero, 
(Tusc.  1.  1.  c.  28,)  poflibly  Ennius,  has  this  ■ — 

Caelum  nitescer<%  arbores  frondescere, 
Vites  laetificae  pampinis  pubescere, 
Rami  baccarum  ubertate  incurvescere. 

Of"  middle  rhyme,  we  have  in  Ennius  :  — 
Non  cauponantes  bellum,  sed  belligerantes  ; 

In  Virgil :  — 

Limus  ut  hie  durescit,  et  haec  ut  cera  liquescit ; 

In  Ovid  :  — 

Quern  mare  carpentem,  substrictaque  crura  gerentem  ; 

Where  also  is  found  this  example  of  leonine  pen- 
tameter :  — 

Quasrebant  rlavos  per  nemus  omne  favos. 

Of  final  rhyme,  we  have,  in  Virgil  :  — 

Nee  non  Tarquinium  ejectum  Porsenna  jubebat 
Accipere,  ingentique  urbem  obsidione  premebat ; 

Also  : 

Omnis  campis  diffugit  arator, 
Otnnts  et  agricola,  et  tuti  latet  arce  viator  ; 


6a  origin  of  latin  rhyme. 

In  Horace  :  — 

Non  satis  est  pulcra  esse  poemata ;  dulcia  sunto, 
Et  quocumque  volent,  animum  auditoris  agunto  ; 

Also.    - 

Multa  recedentes  adimunt.     Ne  forte  seniles 
Mandentur  juveni  partes,  pueroque  viriles. 

Lucan  abounds  in  examples.  Even  the  Latin  prose- 
writers,  it  would  seem,  did  not  disdain  now  and  then 
to  play  at  rhyme,  bv  putting  rhyming  words  in  jux- 
tapofition.  Cicero  has  jlorem  et  color  em  ;  Pliny,  ve- 
ram  et  meram  ;  Plautus,  melle  et  felle  ;  and  so  others. 
Rhyme  being  thus  shown  to  have  been  a  thing 
known  to  the  language  from  the  earlieft  times,  it 
may  be  thought  surprifing,  that  what  at  a  later 
period  was  so  highly  prized,  and  so  fondly  and  so 
laboriously  cultivated,  should  have  been,  during  so 
many  centuries,  to  such  an  extent,  neglected  ;  having 
been  apparently  fhunned  rather  than  sought  for,  par- 
ticularly by  those  great  matters  of  poetry  who  illus- 
trated the  Augultan  age.  The  fa£t  is,  that  the 
ancient  claflic  metres,  though  found  occasionally,  as 
we   have  seen,  toying  with   rhyme,  never  seriously 


ORIGIN    OF    LATIN    RHYME. 


65 


affected  it;  and  it  was  not  until  the  fhackles  imposed 
by  these  had  been  wholly  fhaken  off,  and  a  fimpler 
and  more  natural  verification,  based  upon  accent 
inftead  of  quantity,  had  succeeded  in  eitablifhing  its 
juft  claims  over  the  Greek  intruder,  that  the  regime 
of  rhyme  fairly  commenced. 


'Marian  (Stent. 


From  the  "  Graduale  Romanum." 


m^^mw 


=fc 


!=^-?rd 


I 

1.    Di  -  es       i  -  rae,  di  -  es        il  -  la       >»»l  -  vet    saj-clum 

'1.  Quantus    tre-mor  est    fu    -    tu-rus.  Quan-do    Ju-dex 

7.  Quod  sum  mi  -  ser  tunc  die  -  tu  -  rus,  Quein  pa  -  tro-num 

8.  Rex  tre-men-daa  ma  •  jes  -   ta  -  tis,     Qui    sal  -  van-dos 

13.  Qui    Ma  -  ri  -  am  ab  -  sol  -  vis  -  ti,       Et      la-  tro-nem 

14.  Prae-ces    ine  -  ae  non   sunt   dig -me,   Se.l    tu     bo-nus 


r  r  '   r"1   > 

in     ta  -  vil  -  'a.  Tes  -  te    Da- vid  cum  Si  -  byl-la.  3.  Tu  -  ba   mi-rum 
est  ven-  tu-rus.  Cuncta  stric-te    dis-  cus-  su-rus.  4.  Mors  stu-pe-bit 
ro- ga  -  tu-rus,   Cum  vix  Justus  sit    se-cu-rus?  9.  Re  -  cor- da  -  re 
sal-vas  gratis,  Sal-va  me,  fons  pi  -  e  -  ta  -  tis  !  10.  Quaerens  me  se- 
ex  -  au- dis  -  ti,  Mi  -  hi   quo-que  spem  de-dis-ti.  15.  In  -  ter    o  -  vea 
fac    be-nig-ne,  Ne   per-en-ni    cre-mer  ig-ne.  16.  Cou-fu  -  ta-  tis 


r~iHH=ii=#l 


mm 


i—3-b& 


q.  r  f  p 


m    -1- 


Vm- 


■m — m- 


PPP 


r^r-F 


i    i 

spargeus  so  -  num  Per  se  -  pul-chra  re  -  gi  -  o  -  num,  Co-  get  om-nes 
et  na  -  tu  -  ra.  Cum  re  -  sur-get  ere  -  a  -  tu  -  ra,  Ju  -  di  -  can  -  ti 
Je  -  su  pi  -  e.  Quod  sum  cau-sa  tu  -  a;  vi  -  ae.  Xe  me  per-das 
dis  -  ti  las  -  sus  Re  -  de  -  mis-  ti  cru-cem  pas-sus  :  Tan-tus  la  -  bor 
lo-cum  pravsta.  Et  ab  h  i-dis  me  se  -  questra.  Sta-tu-ens  in 
ma  -  le  -  die  -  tis,  Flammis  a  -  cri  -  bus  ad  -  die-  tis,    Vo  -  ca  me  cum 


r  i        i 

an  -  te  thronum.    5.  Li  -  ber  scriptus    pro-fe  -  re  -  tur,  In  quo  totum 

re-s|>on-su  -  ra.      6.  Ju-dex  er  -   go  cum  se- de  -  bit.  Quidquid  latet 

il  -  la     di  -  e  !     11.  Jus  -  te  Ju  -dex   ul  -   ti  -  o  •  nis.  Donum  fac  re  - 
not  sit   cassus  !    12.  In      ge  -  niis-co  tanquam  re  -  us,  Cul-pa   ru-bet 

par-te    dex-tra!  17.  0  -  ro  sup-plex  et    ac -cli  -  nis,  Cor  contritum 
be  -  ne  -  die  tis  ! 


'I  I  '  'I 

con-ti    -   ne-tur,  Un-de  mundus  ju-di  -    ce-tur. 
ap  -  pa  -    re  -  bit,  Nil  in  -  ul  -  turn  re  -  ma-  -  ne-  bit. 

-   mis -si    -    o-nisAn-te    di    em    ra-ti    -    o  -  nis.  18.  La-chry-mo-sa 
vul-tus      me-us  :  Suppli-can-ti      par-ce,      De  -  us  ! 
qua-  si       ci  -  nis  :  Ge-  re   cu-ram   me  -  i        fi  -  nis  ! 


OLD   GEMS    IN    NEW   SETTINGS. 


CORRIGENDA. 


Page  22,  line  17  from  top,  read  '  minaciter  '   for  '  menaciter.' 
"     26,  line     3      "       "       " 

"     30,  line     5      "       "       '*      '  tunc  '  (recreatio,)  for  *  nunc' 
"     45,  line  10      "       "      omit  '  But  '  at  beginning  of  line. 
"     64,  line     2      "       "      read  *  Mentes  '  for  tMens.' 
"     83,  line     6      "       "     read : 

'  This  glory  of  the  world,  so  much  estimated.' 


1 


«♦    AugU8tineand|li8Mothei 


•  Sciwffr  -. 


& 


U  IBims 


IN    NEW    SETTINGS 


COMPRISING    THE 


CHOICEST    OF   MEDIEVAL    HYMNS 


ORIGINAL   TRANSLATIONS 


y 


BY 


ABRAHAM  COLES,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D. 


With   Photographic   Illustrations 


b*ft 


4^ 


NEW   YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1867 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  by 

D.  Appleton  and  Company. 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York 


RIVERSIDE.     CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED    AND     PRINTED 
H.    0.    HOUGHTON    AND    COMPANY. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Urbs  Ccelestis  Syon  ;  or,  the  Better  Country  7 

Vent  Sancte  Spiritus 50 

Vent  Creator  Spiritus 58 

Alphabetic    Judgment    Hymn    (Hymnus    Alpha- 

beticus  de  Die  Judicii) 69 

On  Contempt  of  the  World  (Carmen  Jaco- 

poni  de  contemptu  mundi,)     ....  76 


URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON ; 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY. 


N  Trench's  "  Sacred  Latin  Poetry  "  is 
given  a  beautiful  Cento  of  ninety-fix 
lines,  descriptive  of  the  Heavenly  Zion, 
taken  from  the  firft  part  of  a  long  poem 
of  nearly  three  thousand  lines,  entitled  tc  De  Con- 
temptu  Mundi"  written  in  the  I2th  century  by 
Bernard  de  Morlas,  Monk  of  Cluny,  so  called 
to  diftinguifh  him  from  his  famous  contemporary  St. 
Bernard,  Abbot  of  Clairvaux.  Of  this  Cento  a  new 
tranflation  is  here  attempted.  Prefixed  to  it  are  the 
eight  opening  lines  of  the  Poem,  admonitory  of  the 
nearness  of  Chrift's  second  coming  to  judge  the 
world. 

Rev.  Dr.   John   Mason    Neale,  an    accomplished 


6  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

scholar  of  England,  juft  deceased,  whose  tranflations 
of  various  mediaeval  hymns  have  met  with  much  and 
merited  favor,  gave  a  verfion  of  the  larger  part  of  the 
above  Cento  under  the  title  of  "  The  Celeftial  Coun- 
try," following,  as  he  tells  us,  the  arrangement  of 
Trench  and  not  that  of  Bernard.  The  great  popular- 
ity which  this  attained,  as  evinced  by  the  numerous 
hymns  compiled  from  it  —  "  Jerusalem  the  Golden," 
in  particular,  having  found  a  place,  he  gratefully  ob- 
serves, in  some  twenty  hymnals  —  "  led  him  to  think 
that  a  fuller  extract  from  the  Latin  and  a  further 
tranflation  into  Englifh  might  not  be  unaccept- 
able." 

Whether  by  this  process  there  was  not  as  much 
loft  as  gained  admits  of  some  doubt.  It  set  afide 
Trench's  labor  of  love  as  impertinent  or  useless.  The 
matter  of  the  earlier  tranflation,  with  which  many 
had  become  familiar,  could  only  be  found  by  diligent 
search,  disjecta  membra  poeta^  scattered  everywhere 
up  and  down  the  later  work.  One,  however,  might 
become  reconciled  to  this,  provided  improvement 
always  followed  ;  but  we  think  this  can  hardly  be 
claimed.      On  the  contrary,  what  is  added  too  often 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  9 

appears  crude,  or  incongruous,  or  out  of  place,  or  of 
inferior  intereft.     For  example,  we  read  :  — 

"  Here,  is  the  warlike  trumpet, 
There,  lite  set  free  from  fin, 
When  to  the  laft  Great  Supper 

The  faithful  mail  come  in  ; 
When  the  heavenly  net  is  laden 
With  fifties  many  and  great, 
(  So  glorious  in  its  fulness 
And  so  inviolate.)" 

Without  access  to  the  original,  it  would  be  im- 
poflible  to  say  which  is  responfible,  the  author  or 
the  tranflator,  for  the  ftrange  groupings  contained  in 
the  following  verses  :  — 

"  Jefus,  the  Gem  of  Beauty, 

True  God  and  Man,  they  fing, 
The  never-failing  Garden, 

The  ever-golden  Ring, 
The  Door,  the  Pledge,  the  Hufband, 

The  Guardian  of  the  Court, 
The  Day-ftar  of  Salvation, 

The  Porter  and  the  Port." 

What  better  is  this  than  a  diftra&ing  medley  of 
names,  whose  meaning  and  fitness,  so  far  from  being 


10  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

immediately  obvious,  it  is  hard  to  discover  even  with 
time  and  ftudy.  Certainly,  one  needs  to  pofTess  a 
rare  nimbleness  of  fancy  to  qualify  him  to  overleap 
such  wide  spaces  as  intervene  between  "  the  never- 
failing  Garden"  and  the  "  ever-golden  Ring,"  thence 
on  from  "  the  Door,  the  Pledge,  the  Hufband,"  to 
the  diftant  and  final  refting-place,  "  the  Porter  and 
the  Port"  (whatever  these  may  be),  without  longer 
pauses  in  the  tranfition  than  the  punctuation  calls  for. 
The  framer  of  the  cento  did  well,  therefore,  we 
think,  in  leaving  out  lines  like  these,  and  no  advan- 
tage has  resulted  from  their  restoration. 

The  extreme  fimplicity  of  ftyle  affected  by  the 
tranflator,  which  makes  his  poetry  but  one  remove 
from  prose,  may  account,  perhaps,  for  such  careless 
expremons  as  M  The  sun-lit  land  that  recks  not,*' 
"  Of  flowers  that  fear  no  thorn,"  "And  smi/es  have 
no  alloy"  "  Peace,  endless,  Jhifeless,  ageless"  "The 
only  art  thou  needed,  thanksgiving  for  thy  lot," 
"  And  pajjionless  renown,"  "  Shall  (hew  Him  us,  and 
(hewing,  (hall  satiate  evermo"  "  And  fhadows  mall 
decay"  "  O  lovelier  far  than  gold,"  "  And  safe  vie- 
torious  fold"   and    others    that    could   be   cited  ;    but 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  1  I 

they  are  blemifhes  and  solecisms  nevertheless,  which 
ought  to  be  pointed  out,  only  the  more  because  the 
verlion  is  so  much  of  a  favorite,  has  found  its  way 
into  so  many  hymn-books,  is  enfhrined  in  the  hearts 
and  memories  of  a  multitude  of  Chriftian  people, 
recited  by  children,  and  sung  to  accompanying  mufic 
expreffly  prepared  for  it,  authoritatively  spoken  of 
in  a  recent  work  "  as  the  sweeten:  and  deareft 
religious  poem  in  our  language,"  and  by  reason  of 
its  artless  and  childlike  diction  inverted  with  a  charm 
not  belonging  to  the  original.  There  is  danger 
left,  by  too  indiscriminate  an  admiration,  even  de- 
fects will  come  to  be  regarded  as  beauties,  and  lead 
to  vicious  imitations,  perhaps  to  corruptions  of  tafte 
in  many  readers  to  whom  a  popular  hymn  like  this  is 
a  means  of  education  not  to  be  despised. 

Such  confiderations,  we  think,  more  than  juftify 
fome  freedom  of  criticism,  even  at  the  rifk  of  wound- 
ing the  senfibilities  of  that  class  of  admirers  to  whom 
it  has  already  become  a  thing  quite  sacred.  The 
claim  set  up  that  it  is  superior  to  the  original  we  can- 
not allow  ;  not  even  in  the  rendering  of  those  parts, 
in  which,  in  the  eftimation  of  the  translator  himself, 


12  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

as  well  as  the  public,  he  has  been  moll  successful,  for 
example  :  — 

"  Urbs  Syon  aurea,  patrea  laftea,  cive  decora,"  &c.t 
forming  the  text  of  those  well-known  lines :  — 

"  Jerusalem  the  golden, 

With  milk  and  honey  blejl, 
Beneath  thy  contemplation 

Sink  heart  and  voice  oppreft. 
I  know  not,  O  I  know  not, 

What  social  joys  are  there  ! 
What  radiancy  of  glory, 

What  light  beyond  compare. 
*  *  * 

•'  There  ftand  those  halls  of  Syon, 

Conjubilant  with  song, 
And  bright  with  many  an  angel 

And  all  the  martyr  throng  : 
The  Prince  is  ever  in  them, 

The  daylight  is  serene, 
The  pajiures  of  the  BleJJed 

Are  decked  in  glorious  jhene" 

These  lines  contain  some  things  which  are  not  in 
the  original.  That  affords  no  warrant  for  making 
"milk  and  honey"  (honey  is  supplied)  ftand  for  the 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  13 

heavenly  blefTedness.  To  specify  is  to  limit;  and  we 
think  it  is  a  fault  that,  inftead  of  leaving  it  undefined, 
the  writer  undertakes  to  figure  and  represent  it  under 
so  poor  an  image  as  milk  and  honey. 

"  With  milk  and  honey  blejl" 

is  given  as  the  laft  and  culminating  conception,  that 
particular  one  which  is  supposed  to  fill  the  mind  and 
overwhelm  it  at  the  time  when  "  heart  and  voice 
fink  oppreuV'  Milk  and  honey  are  good,  but  how- 
ever figuratively  underftood,  there  is  nothing  in  their 
contemplation,  one  would  sav,  to  produce  such  over- 
powering effects. 

Without  remarking  on  the  more  or  less  tautologi- 
cal character  of  the  lines,  — 

"  What  radiancy  of  glory, 
What  light  beyond  compare," 

we  venture  to  think  that  the  tranflator  miffes  or 
miftakes  the  meaning,  by  making  the  specialness 
of  the  heavenly  glory  to  confift,  not  in  a  higher 
kind  than  any  known,  which  is  a  frefh  and  beautiful 
thought,  but  in  a  higher  degree^  which  is  compara- 
tively trite  and  commonplace.     The  diftin&ion  may 


14  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYOK. 

be  a   delicate  one,  but  it  is  a  material  one,   never- 
theless.    The  lan^ua^e  of  the  original  is  : 

Nescio,  nescio,  quse  jubilatio,  lux  tibi  qualis, 
'    Quam  socialia  gaudia,  gloria  quam  specialis. 

The  laft  line  of  the  extract,  befides  being  supple- 
mented, evidently  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  com- 
plete the  rhyme,  is  also,  we  think,  inelegant  and 
without  appropriateness  as  applied  to  "  paftures." 
The  abrupt  turn,  moreover,  in  the  scenic  represen- 
tation from  the  royal  palace  to  the  grazing  meadow, 
is  not  relieved,  as  it  is  in  the  original,  by  any  word 
calculated  to  reconcile  the  mind  to  the  sudden  change, 
or  prevent  its  being  ftartled  by  it.  The  needed  word 
in  the  Latin  is  "  mitibus,"  which  inftantly  serves  to 
identify  the  sainted  multitude  with  God's  dear  flock, 
mild  and  gentle,  led  by  the  Good  Shepherd  into 
cc  green  paftures  and  befide  ftill  waters."  This  is 
verv  different  from  saying  baldlv,  suggeftive  of  a  re- 
pulfive  literalness,  "  the  paftures  of  the  BlefTed,"  as 
if  what  conftituted  the  punifhmentof  Nebuchadnezzar 
was  to  form  a  part  of  the  rewards  of  the  righteous. 
In  other  parts  of  the  verfion,  by  reason  of  the  , 
omifiion  as  here  of  some  linking  or  suggeftive  word, 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  I  5  . 

so  unexpected  and  violent  seems  the  transition,  it 
gives  the  reader  somehow  an  unpleasant  sense  of  fall- 
ing headlong  down  precipitous  places.  The  mind  is 
not  a  ball  that  it  can  be  tofled  to  and  fro  from  hand 
to  hand. 

While  employed  in  this  ungracious,  but  not,  we 
truft,  unwarranted,  work  of  censure  and  vindication, 
we  fhall  crown  our  presumption  under  this  head  by 
venturing  to  differ  from  the  diftinguifhed  tranflator  in 
regard  to  the  rendering  of  the  two  concluding  lines 
of  the  cento,  the  meaning  of  which,  we  are  com- 
pelled to  think,  he  has  ftrangely  misconceived.  They 
are  these  — 

"  O  sacer,  O  pius,  O  ter  et  amplius  ille  beatus, 
Cui  sua  pars  Deus :  O  miser,  O  reus,  hac  viduatus  "  — 

which  Dr.  Neal  translates  thus  : 

11  Exult,  O  dull  and  alhes  ! 

The  Lord  fhall  be  thy  part : 
His  only,  His  forever 

Thou  malt  be  and  thou  art.'" 

To  our  mind  nothing  can  be  plainer  than  that 
there  are  two  clafTes  of  persons  referred  to  in  the 
original.       The   one   class,   having   chosen    God    for 


l6  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

their  part,  are  holy,  dear,  and  thrice  blefTed  ;  where- 
as the  other  class,  having  separated  themselves  from 
this  part,  not  caring  to  have  God  for  their  portion, 
are  miserable,  condemned,  the  wrath  of  God  ftill 
abiding  on  them.  In  the  above  tranflation,  "  O  duft 
and  afhes  "  ftands  evidently  for  "  O  miser,  O  reus," 
as  well  as  for  "  O  sacer  "  and  the  reft,  making  no 
diftin&ion.  To  favor  this  false  rendering  a  comma 
is  put  after  "  Deus  "  inftead  of  a  colon  ;  and  in 
place  of  a  period  after  "  Retinebis"  in  the  preced- 
ing line,  there  is  no  flop  at  all  ;  thus  moft  erro- 
neoufly  connecting  M  Retinebis  "  immediately  with 
what  follows. 

In  regard  to  the  extraordinary  merit  of  the  orig- 
inal poem  —  at  leaft  that  part  of  it  which  forms  the 
exordium,  wherein  an  attempt  is  made  to  set  forth 
the  purity  and  peace  of  the  heavenly  Paradise,  by 
way  of  contraft,  and  for  the  purpose  of  throwing 
into  yet  bolder  and  more  appalling  relief  the  abound- 
ing pollutions  and  miseries  of  earth  which  it  is  the 
chief  defign  of  the  poem  to  present  —  there  can  be 
but  one  opinion.  Such  is  Dr.  Neale's  appreciation 
of  its  excellence,  that  he  has  "  no  hefitation  in  say- 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  1 7 

ing  that  he  looks  on  these  verses  of  Bernard  as  the 
moft  lovely,  in  the  same  way  that  the  "  Dies  Ira  "  is 
the  moft  sublime,  and  the  " Stabat  Mater"  is  the  moft 
pathetic  of  mediaeval  poems.  They  are,  he  thinks, 
even  superior  to  that  glorious  hymn  on  the  same 
subject.,  the  "  De  Gloria  et  Gaudiis  Paradifi"  of  St. 
Peter  Damiani.  So  Trench  looks  upon  "  the  Ode 
of  Cafimir  (the  great  Latin  poet  of  Poland)  '  Urit 
me  Patrice  decorj  which  turns  upon  the  same  theme, 
—  the  heavenly  homefickness,  —  with  all  its  claffical 
beauty,  as  a  less  real  and  deep  utterance  than  the 
poor  Cluniac  monk's." 

The  great  and  immediate  popularity  of  Neale's 
tranflation,  notwithstanding  its  defects,  is  a  further 
proof,  and  the  moft  conclufive  one,  perhaps,  of  all, 
that  it  pofleffes  the  elements  of  genuine  power  — 
has  indeed  that  imperifhable  principle  of  lyric  life 
which  fits  it  to  be  the  interpreter  of  the  human  heart 
in  all  ages,  in  the  nineteenth  century  no  less  than 
the  twelfth.  It  undoubtedly  owes  much  to  its 
theme,  which  has  furnifhed  other  hymns  of  great 
sweetness  befides  those  already  named  Two  in  par- 
ticular are  deserving  of  special  mention,  —  one  in 
3 


l8  URBS    CCELEST1S    SYON. 

Latin,  u  Urbs  beata  Hirusalem"  and  one  in  English, 
"  O  Mother  dear,  Jerusalem."  But  the  heavenly 
heartache,  with  the  soul  enamored  of  its  home  in 
the  fkies,  and  longing  to  depart,  never,  it  is  safe  to 
say,  found  a  sweeter  or  more  touching  exprefiion 
than  in  these  lines  of  Bernard.  In  each  golden  fur- 
row of  verse  are  scattered  in  rich  profufion  the  ripe 
veritable  seeds  of  those  immortal  flowers  that  bloom 
in  Paradise,  whence  — 

"  Gentle  gales, 
Fanning  their  odoriferous  wings,  dispense 
Native  perfumes,  and  whisper  whence  they  ftole 
Those  balmy  spoils.     As  when  to  those  who  sail 
Beyond  the  Cape  of  Hope,  and  now  are  paft 
Mozambic,  off  at  sea  north-eaft  winds  blow 
Sabean  odors  from  the  spicy  more 
Of  Araby  the  bleft." 

We  are  perpetually  reminded,  of  course,  that  the 
finger  is  ftill  in  the  body,  in  which  "  he  groans,  be- 
ing burdened  "i — "without  are  fightings  and  within 
are  fears  "  —  is  a  mourning  exile,  waiting  deliver- 
ance, fick  from  deferred  hope,  not  yet  permitted  to 
enter  the  Land  of  Promise,  but  nevertheless  in  lieu 
thereof  lifted  to  the  Mount  of  Vifion,  and  favored 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  IO, 

with  ecftatic  glimpses  that  cc  bring  all  heaven  before 
his  eye's."  No  wonder,  therefore,  his  ftrain  is  a  min- 
gled one,  by  turns  exultant  and  sad  ;  its  rejoicings 
full  of  interjected  fighs  —  suspirations  and  aspirations 
in  the  same  breath.  The  holy  inhabitants  seem 
almoft  "  too  happy  in  their  happiness  ;  "  it  makes  the 
contrail  with  the  present  ftate  too  great,  too  painful ; 
it  even  begets  doubt,  because  it  seems  too  much  to 
expect  ;  hope  is  afraid  to  soar  so  high.  The  mind 
is  described  as  finking  down  baffled  and  overwhelmed 
under  the  preffure  of  that  "far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory,"  blinded  and  overpowered 
by  the  intolerable  splendors  of  the  New  Jerusalem  ; 
and  we  are  reminded  of  that  fine  outburft  of  Pindaric 
rapture  in  which  the  "  Bard  "  of  Gray,  in  like  man- 
ner dazzled  and  amazed  by  the  unexpected  fight  of 
England's  diftant  renown  and  greatness,  exclaims  :  — 

"  But  oh,  what  solemn  scenes  on  Snowdon's  height 
Descending  (low  their  glittering  fkirts  unroll  ? 
Vifions  of  glory,  spare  my  aching  fight, 
Ye  unborn  ages,  crowd  not  on  my  soul." 

Of  the  hiftory  of  the  original  poem,  this   much  is 
known.      It    was    written    about    the  year    1145    by 


20  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

Bernard,  a  CJuniac  monk,  as  already  dated,  and  ad- 
drefled  to  Peter,  his  own  abbot.  Judging  from  his 
writings,  he  muft  have  poflefled  a  spirit  almoft  as 
dauntless  as  Luther's.  Apparently  actuated  by  a 
righteous  zeal  to  correct  some  of  the  (hocking  abuses 
which  everywhere  prevailed  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
Chriftian  name,  he  in  this  poem  with  terrible  sever- 
ity and  with  matchless  power  of  sarcasm  exposes 
and  afTails  them,  —  plainly  denounces  the  fhameful 
greed  and  venality  of  the  Roman  court,  corrupt  from 
the  Pope  down,  where  fimony  was  openly  practiced, 
and  nothing  could  be  got  without  money,  but  any 
thing  with.      Here  is  a  specimen  of  his  manner  :  — 

"  Si  tua  nuncia  praevenit  uncia,  surge,  sequaris  ; 
Expete  limina,  nulla  gravimina  jam  verearis: 
Si  datur  uncia,  flat  prope  gratia  Pontificalis ; 
Sin  procul  haec  valet,  hasc  tibi  lex  manet  eft  schola  talis.'* 

"  Money   is   needed,   if  that   has   preceded,   rise,  follow,  and 

enter; 
Bars  of  the  gateway  removed  fhall  be  ftraightway,  now  fear 

no  preventer  ; 
Give  but  the  penny,  then  nigh  thee  is  any  Pontifical  favor  ; 
Far  off  or  faileth  this  thing  that  availeth,  thy  case  is  much 

graver." 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  21 

Such  being  its  character,  it  is  not  surprifing,  per- 
haps, that  it  has  been  a  greater  favorite  with  Proteft- 
ants  than  with  Catholics,  and  that  during  the  time  of 
and  fince  the  Reformation  editions  have  multiplied. 
It  was  unburied  and  firft  printed  at  Paris  in  1483. 
Flacius,  in  a  rare  work  publifhed  at  Bale  in  1557, 
("  Varia  doclorum,  piorumque  vivorum  de  corrupto  Ec- 
clefice  Jiatu  Poemata^)  pp.  247-349,  gives  it  with  the 
title :  cc  Bernhardus  Clunlacus  de  Contemptu  Mundi. 
Ad  Petrum  Abbatum  suwn."  It  was  reprinted  in 
1597,  and  again  in  1610,  and  more  recently  ftill  in 
Wachler's  "  Annals  "  in  1820.  Daniel  in  his  "  The- 
saurus Hymnologicus  "  gives  only  the  firft  eight  lines 
under  the  heading  De  Novijfimis.  These  opening 
lines  are  repeated  here  to  illuftrate  the  ftrudfure  of 
the  verse,  which  of  itself  is  one  of  the  curiofities  of 
literature.  It  is  a  bold  attempt  to  combine  ancient 
prosody  with  modern  rhyme.  Each  hexameter  line 
is  made  to  confift  of  five  dactyls  and  a  final  trochee, 
the  second  and  fourth  dactylic  feet  rhyming  together, 
and  the  trochaic  ending  rhyming  with  the  corre- 
sponding foot  of  the  following  line  ;  or,  as  it  may  be 
otherwise   expreiTed,    it   is   an    example    of  "  leonine 


22  URBS    CGELESTIS    SYON. 

and  tailed  rhyme,  with  lines  in  three  parts,  between 
which  a  caesura  is  not  admiffible."  Below  we  have 
sought  to  represent  to  the  eye  these  peculiarities  of 
ftru£ture  by  marks  ;  and  furthermore,  have  ventured 
a  continuation  of  the  attempt  juft  made,  to  imitate 
the  metre  in  an  Englifh  tranflation  rendered  as  literal 
as  poffible.  While  one  would  not  care  to  prosecute 
it  through  a  long  poem,  we  are  persuaded  the  thing 
could  be  done,  and  in  a  manner  to  make  the  verse 
tolerably  readable  and  effective.  The  perpendicular 
lines  of  divifion  indicate  the  three  parts — the  firft 
two  parts  containing  two  dactyls  each,  the  second 
and  fourth  forming  a  rhyme  ;  and  the  third  part  con- 
taining one  da£lyl  and  one  trochee,  the  final  trochee 
forming  a  double  rhyme  with  that  of  the  next  line. 
De  Novissimis. 

"  Hora  novissima,  ||  tempora  yessima  |]  sunt ;  vigXlemus  ! 
Ecce  !  menaciter  ||  imminet  Arbiter  ||  ille  supremus ! 
Imminet,  imminet  ||  et  mala  terminet  ||  aequa  coronet, 
Refta  remuneret  ||  anxia  Wberet,  \\  asthera  donet, 
Auferat  aspera  \\  duraque  pondera  ||  mentes  onuftce, 
Sobria  muniat  \\  improba  r)uniat\\  utr ^aque  jufte, 
Ille  xnxsjimus,  ||  ille  gravhjimus,  ||  ecce  !  venit  Rex  ! 
Surgat  homo  reus !  \\  Inftat  Homo  Deus  \\  a  Patre  Judex.'1'' 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  23 

Of  the  Last  Times. 

Laft  hours  now  tolling  are,  ||  worft  times  unrolling  are ;  || 
watch  !  there  is  danger. 

L6  !  in  sublimity,  ||  threatening  proximity,  ||  hover'th  th'  Aven- 
ger ! 

Hdvereth,  hovereth,  ||  evil  uncovere.h,  ||  equity  crdwneth  ; 

Right  He  rewardeth  then,  ||  comfort  affdrdeth  then,  ||  hdirs  of 
heaven  dwneth  ; 

Fr<5m  the  mind,  onerous  ||  burdens  and  ponderous  ||  beareth  He 
lightly  ; 

Righteous  protd&eth  He,  ||  wicked  rejecleth  He  ||  both  alike 
rightly; 

King  in  His  clemency  ||  awful  supremacy  ||  cometh  to  gather  — 

Man  disentombing,  the  ||  God-Man  him  dooming,  the  ||  Judge 
from  the  Father. 

Surely  "  there  is  a  pleasure  in  poetic  pains  that 
poets  only  know,"  otherwise  it  is  impoffible  to  con- 
ceive that  human  patience  could  have  held  out  in 
the  building  up  of  three  thousand  lines  in  so  difficult 
a  metre.  Like  the  execution  of  those  pictures  in 
mosaic,  seen  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  which  took 
from  twelve  to  twenty  years  to  complete,  it  so  far 
transcends  all  modern  capabilities,  that  one  is  tempted 
to  class  Patience,  in  its  higher  manifeftations  at  leaft, 


24  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

among  M  the  Loft  Arts."  The  author  himself'  seems 
to  have  been  filled  with  wonder  at  his  own  perform- 
ance ;  and  pioufly  acknowledges,  that  "  it  he  had 
not  received  directly  from  on  high  the  gift  of  intelli- 
gence, he  had  not  dared  to  attempt  an  enterprise 
so  little  adapted  to  the  powers  of  the  human  mind." 
What  was  difficult  for  the  author  would  be  tenfold 
more  difficult  for  the  tranflator,  because  there  hang 
upon  him  numerous  clogs  from  which  the  other  is 
free.  Dr.  Neale  says: — "I  have  deviated  from 
my  ordinary  rule  of  adopting  the  measure  of  the  orig- 
inal, because  our  language,  if  it  could  be  tortured  to 
any  diftant  resemblance  of  its  rhythm,  would  utterly 
fail  to  give  any  idea  of  the  majeftic  sweetness  of  the 
Latin."  Whether  it  was  neceflary  or  wise  to  go  to 
the  other  extreme — of  ballad  plainness  and  fimplicity 
—  some  may  doubt. 

The  artful  character  of  the  verse,  which  confti- 
tuted  one  of  its  chief  diftin£tions,  and  upon  which 
the  author  had  beftowed  so  much  labor,  was  thereby 
necefTarily  loft,  as  well  as  the  richness  and  melody  of 
its  oft-recurring  rhymes.  In  the  tranflation  here 
given,  the  writer  has    sought   to  preserve  "  the  leo- 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  25 

nine  and  tailed  rhymes,  with  the  lines  in  three  parts," 
only  lengthening  the  third  member  so  as  to  make  of  it 
another  line,  and  ufing  anapefts  inftead  of  dactyls, 
as  being  a  kind  of  verse  better  suited  to  the  genius 
of  Englifh  prosody, —  the  dactylic  form  being  seldom 
used,  because  less  flowing  and  pleafing  to  the  ear. 
Had  it  been  thought  beft  that  the  dactylic  hexameter 
form  fhould  be  retained,  he  is  hardly  prepared  to  go 
the  length  of  Dr.  Neale  and  deny  its  poilibility. 

How  far  the  present  tranflator  has  succeeded  it  is 
of  course  for  others  to  judge.  He  admits  that  if  it 
were  as  easy  to  be  faultless  as  it  is  to  find  fault,  there 
would  be  no  excuse  for  imperfection.  He  claims 
nothing  for  his  verfion.  It  is  sent  forth  as  a  timid 
and  humble  candidate  for  public  favor,  but  at  the 
same  time  not  as  a  mendicant,  afking  alms  and  beg- 
ging leave  to  be.  If  worthless,  let  it  die  —  in  other 
words,  let  nobody  read  it.  So  of  his  other  verfions. 
The  name,  "  The  Better  Country,"  was  chosen 
to  diftinguifh  it  from  others  upon  the  same  theme. 
That  it  will  supersede  w  The  Celeftial  Country  " 
is  neither  expected  nor  defired. 
4 


URBS    CCELESTIS   SYON. 

ORA  novifiima,  tempora  peflima 

sunt  ;   vigilemus  ! 
Ecce  !   menaciter  imminet   Arbiter 

ille  supremus  ! 
Imminet,  imminet  et  mala  terminet 

aequa  coronet, 
Recl:a  remuneret,  anxia  liberet, 

aethera  donet ; 
Auferat  aspera  duraque  pondera 

mentes  onuftae 
Sobria  muniat,  improba  puniat 

utraque  jufte, 


THE    BETTER   COUNTRY. 

HE   laft  of  the  hours,   iniquity  towers, 
The  times  are    the  worft,  let    us  vigils 

be  keeping! 
Left  the  Judge  who   is  near,  and    soon 
to  appear, 
Shall  us  at  His  coming  find  flumbering  and  fleep- 
ing. 
He  is  nigh,  He  is  nigh  !     He  descends  from  the  fky 
For  the  ending  of  evil  and  the  right's  coronation, 
The  juft  to  reward,  relief  to  afford, 

And  the  heavens  beftow  for  the  saints'  habitation  : 
To  lift  and  unbind  grievous  weights  from  the  mind, 

To  give  every  man   what  is  juft  and  is   equal, 
To   make  the  good  glad,  and  punifh   the  bad, 
To  the  praise  of  His  juftice  and  grace  in  the  sequel. 


28  URBS    CGELESTIS    SYON. 

Ille  piiffimus,  ille  graviffimus 

ecce  !   venit  Rex! 
Surgat  homo  reus  !      Inftat  Homo  Deus 

a  Patre  Judex. 


Hie  breve  vivitur,  hie  breve  plangitur 

hie  breve  fletur  ; 
Non  breve  vivere,  non   breve   plangere 

retribuetur ; 
O  retributio!  ftat  brevis  a6tio 

vita  perennis  ; 
O  retributio  !   coelica  manfio 

flat  lue  plenis  ; 
Quid  datur  et  quibus  ?   aether  egentibus 

et  cruce  dignis, 
Sidera  vermibus,  optima  sontibus, 

aftra  malignis. 
Sunt  modo  praelia,  poftmodo  praemia  ; 

qualia  ?  plena, 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY. 


29 


Moft  clement  and  dear,   moft  juft  and   severe, 
Lo  !   cometh  the  King  in  terrible  splendor, 

Man  springs  from  the  sod,  and  the  Man  who  is  God, 
The   Judge  from   the  Father,  ftands  sentence  to 
render. 

The  life   here   below  so  brief  is  brief  woe, 

A   brief  mortal  space  for  weeping  afforded;  — 
Not  briefly  to  figh,  then  lie  down   and   die, 

Is  the  life  that  's  to  be  hereafter  awarded. 
O   moft  blefled  award !  the  gift  of  the   Lord, 

A  life  whose  long  years  cannot  be  computed  ; 
O   ftrange   award  given  !   a  manfion  in   heaven 

Affigned  to  the  guilty,  the  sometime  polluted. 
What 's  given,   and   to  whom  ?     In  the  firmament, 
room 
To    the    needy  and    those    by  the    cross    worthy 
rendered  — 
Yea,    on    Mercy's    sweet    terms,   orbs    celeftial   to 
worms, 
To  felons  the  beft,  to  the  hateful  ftars,  tendered. 
Now  are  battles  moft  hard  ;   after  these  the  reward. 
Reward  of  what   sort .?     Reward    without    meas- 
ure :  — 


30  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

Plena  refec~tio,  nullaque  paffio, 

nullaque  poena  ; 
Spe  modo  vivitur,  et  Sion  angitur 

a  Babylone  ; 
Nunc   tribulatio  ;  nunc  recreatio, 

sceptra,  coronas  ; 
Tunc  nova  gloria  pectora  sobria 

clarificabat, 
Solvet  enigmata,  veraque  sabbata 

continuabit. 
Liber  et  hoftibus,  et  dominantibus 

ibit  Hebraeus  ; 
Liber  habebitur  et  celebrabitur 

hinc  jubilaeus. 
Patria  luminis,   inscia  turbinis 

inscia  litis, 
Cive  replebitur,  amplificabitur 

Israelitis ; 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  31 

Full  refrefhment,  repose,  full  exemption  from  woes, 
No  suffering,   no  pain,  only   unalloyed   pleasure. 
Now  live  we  in  hope,  and  Zion  muft  cope 

With    Babylon   proud  and  the  powers   infernal  ; 
Now  affliction   makes  sad,  then  delight  fhall  make 
glad, 
And   there  fhall   be  crowns  and   sceptres  supernal. 
Then  new  glory  divine  on  the  righteous  fhall  fhine, 
And  chase  from    their    breafts    the  darkness  that 
paineth, 
Chase    doubt    and    chase    fear,  and    enigmas    make 
clear — 
The    light    of    true    sabbaths,  u  the  reft  that  re- 
maineth." 
All  free  from  the  foe  and   his  m-after  fhall  go 
The  Hebrew,  whose   feet  heavy  chains  now  en- 
viron ;  — 
He   henceforth   held   free  fhall   keep  jubilee, 

No  more  to  be  bound   in  affliclion  and   iron. 
A   Country  of  light,  unacquainted   with  night, 
Where   of  tempeft  and  ftrife  nothing  breaks  the 
deep   flumber, 
With   inhabitants   free  it  replenifhed  fhall  be  — 
Enlarged  with  true  Israelites  countless  in  number. 


32  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON". 

Patria  splendida,  terraque  florida, 

libera  spinis, 
Danda  fidelibus  eft   ibi  civibus 

hie  peregrinis. 
Tunc  erit  omnibus  inspicientibus 

ora  Tonantis 
Summa  potentia,  plena  scientia, 

pax  pia  Sanctis  j 
Pax  fine  crimine,  pax  fine  turbine, 

pax  fine  rixa, 
Meta  laboribus,  atque  tumultibus 

anchora  fixa. 
Pars  mea  Rex  meus,  in  proprio  Deus 

ipse  decore, 
Visus  amabitur,  atque   videbitur 

Aucl:or  in  ore. 
Tunc  Jacob  Israel,  et  Lia  tunc   Rachel 

efficietur, 
Tunc  Syon  atria  pulchra  que  patria 

perficietur 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  33 

Country  splendid   and  grand,  and  a  flowery  land 

That  's   free  from    all  thorns    and    free    from    all 
dangers, 
Is  there  to  be  given  to  the  free  born  of  heaven  — 

The    faithful,    who   here   are    now    pilgrims    and 
ftrangers. 
Shall  then  be  unrolled,  to  all  that  behold 

The   face  of   the  Thunderer,   and  to  such  solely, 
The  utmoft  extreme  of  power  supreme, 

Full  knowledge,  the  unutterable  peace  of  the  holy  : 
A   peace  by  the  tongue  of  llander   unftung  ;      [cor, 

A   peace  without  ftorm,  without  wrangling  or  ran- 
To  labors  a  goal,  and  to   billows   that  roll 

And  tumults    a  fixed  immovable  anchor. 
My  King  is  my  part,  God   Himself  in   my  heart, 

In  His  own  proper  beauty  auguft  and   endearing, 
I  mail  see  and  enfhrine  and  challenge  as  mine, — 

My   Author  and   Saviour,  —  in    His   presence    ap- 
pearing. 
Then  the  Israel  of  grace  fhall  Jacob  displace, 

And  Leah  be  Rachel  in  form  and  affection  ; 
Then  Zion  fhall  ftand,  a  beautiful  land, 

In  all  the  completeness  of  God-like  perfection. 
5 


34  f>         URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

O   bona   Patria,   lumina  sobria 

te  speculantur, 
Ad  tua  nomina  lumina  sobria 

collacrymantur ; 
Eft  tua   mentio  pectoris  unclio, 

cura  doloris, 
Concipientibus  aethera  mentibus 

ignis  amoris. 
Tu  locus  unicus,  illeque  coelicus 

es  paradisus, 
Non  ibi  lacryma,  sed  placidiffima 

gaudia,  risus. 
•        Eft  ibi  confita  laurus,  et  infita 

cedrus  hysopo  ; 
Sunt  radiantia  jaspide  moenia 

clara  pyropo  : 
Hinc  tibi  sardius,  inde  topazius, 

hinc  amethyftus  ; 
Eft  tua  fabrica  concio  coelica 

gemmaque  Chriftus. 


•     THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  35 

O  Country  moft  dear,  our  longing  eyes  here, 

As  they  view  thee  afar,   with  defire  are  aching  ; 
At  the  sound  of  thy  name  our  hearts  are  aflame, 

And    our    eyes    are    aweary  'twixt  weeping    and 
waking. 
Thy   mention  brings  reft,  is  balm  to  the  breaft, 

Is  the  cure  of  our  grief,  and  takes  away  sadness  ; 
The  thinking  of  thee  and  the  bliss  that  fhall  be, 

Is  a  fire  of  love  and   a  fountain  of  gladness. 
The  only  place  thou  that  draws  our  hearts  now, — 

Thou   Paradise  art,  thou  our  blissful   Hereafter  ; 
No  tears  are   found  there,  no  sorrow,  no  care, 

But  sereneft  rejoicings  and  innocent  laughter. 
There  planted  are  seen,  eternally  green, 

The  laurel   and   cedar,  with  the   hyflbp  low  grow- 
ing i 
There  are  walls  with  the  rays  of  the  jasper  ablaze, 

With    the    carbuncle    bright,  incandescent     and 
glowing  : 
The  sardius  mines  there,  here  the  topaz  moft  rare,  . 

Here  the  beams   of  the    amethyft  with    the    reft 
mingle  ; 
To  thy  fabric  belong  the  heavenly  throng, 

The  corner-ftone  Chrift,  gem  precious  and  fingle. 


36  .        URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

Tu  fine  littore,  tu  fine  tempore, 

fons  modo  rivus, 
Dulce  bonis  sapis,  eftque  tibi  lapis 

undique   vivus. 
Eft  tibi  laurea,  dos  datur  aurea, 

sponsa  decora, 
Primaque  Principis  oscula  suscipis, 

inspicis  ora  : 
Candida  lilia,  viva  monilia 

sunt  tibi,  sponsa, 
Agnus  adeft  tibi,  Sponsus  adeft  tibi, 

lux  speciosa ; 
Tota  negocia,  cantica  dulcia 

dulce  tonare, 
Tam   mala  debita,  quam  bona  praebita 

conjubilare. 
Urbs  Syon  aurea,  patrea  lactea, 

cive  decora, 
Omne  cor  obruis,  omnibus  obftruis 

et  cor  et  ora. 


■_" 


r  i::   ,:.:e; 

Sits  the   L 
Like   :--: 


T 


C. 


r  * 


Without  fhore,  without  time,  everlafting,  sublime, 
Thou,  founti-  and  ftream  late     therward  flc 

To   :~e   Z-iz   tr.teft   r.veet,  ii.ihh   r::k  it  the 

T:.::   iii    thri-hh    the  7;;    ^".liier.ei 

g: ir.g.  "r.e.er    r: 

Thine  ;s  the  iiurei's  green  crr.vr.  v.::-  .: 
R  :~   ::v.e:  h   i:en,  :_::  spi-se,  i;  thee   i 

Thine  '>   the  exc-ifite  :.  -   :■:"  the  Prince's  hr:: 


r  . :  ,v  rivers    : :    mi.*;,  —  hi 

Thou    the    whole    heart    < 

charms  of  thy  realn 

Chrkei     ;?     the     v;ice   v." 
5 .'.'  e .    .".  "  5 . 


38  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

Nescio,  nescio,  quae  jubilatio, 

lux  tibi  qualis, 
Quam  socialia  gaudia,  gloria 

quam  specialis  : 
Laude  ftudens  ea  tollere,   mens   mea 

vi£ta  fatiscit  ; 
O  bona  gloria,  vincor  ;   in  omnia 

laus  tua  vicit. 
Sunt  Syon  atria  conjubilantia, 

martyre  plena, 
Cive  micantia,   Principe  ftantia, 

luce  serena  : 
Eft  ibi  pascua,   mitibus  afflua, 

praeftita  Sanctis, 
Regis    ibi   thronus,  agminis  et  sonus 

eft  epulantis. 
Gens  duce  splendida,   concio  Candida 

veftibus   albis 
Sunt  fine  fletibus  in  Syon  aedibus 

aedibus  almis  ; 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  39 

Confined   here  below,  I   pretend   not  to   know 

What  forms  this  rejoicing,  the   kind  of  light  given, 
Nor  how  lefty  the   heights  of  those  social  delights, 

Nor  how  special  the  glory  that  constitutes  heaven. 
These  ftriving  to  raise  in  an  effort  of  praise, 

My  mind   overmaftered,  lo !    fainteth   and  faileth  ; 
O  glory   unknown,  I  am  conquered   I   own, 

Thy    superior  praise  in  all  things  prevaileth. 
There  are  fhoutings  and  calls   in  thy  echoing  halls 

With  the  martyr  hoft  full,  a  glorious   mufter, 
With  the  citizen,  bright,  with  the  Prince  aye  in  fight, 

Serene  evermore  with   a  soft,  sacred  luftre. 
There  sweet  paftures  around  for  the  gentle  abound, 

For  the  saints  a  dear  flock  by  the  water-brooks 
grazing ; 
There's  the  throne  of  the   King,    there  the  palace- 
walls  ring 

With  the  sound  of  a  multitude  feafting  and  praifing. 
Nation  glorious  and   grand,   through  the   conquering 
hand 

Of  the  Leader,  a  hoft  in  white  veftments  mining, 
Through  the  long  rolling    years  they  remain  with- 
out tears ;  [ing« 

In  the  dwellings  of  Zion  there  is  reft  from   repin- 


40  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

Sunt  fine  crimine,   sunt  fine  turbine, 

sunt  fine  lite. 
In   Syon  aedibus  editioribus 

Israelite. 
Urbs   Syon  inclyta,  gloria  debita 

glorificandis, 
Tu  bona  vifibus  interioribus 

intima   pandis  : 
Intima  lumina,  mentis  acumina 

te   speculantur, 
Peitora  flammea  spe  modo,  poftea 

sorte  lucrantur. 
Urbs  Syon  unica,  manfio  myftica, 

condita  coelo, 
Nunc  tibi  gaudeo,  nunc  mihi  lugeo, 

triftor,  anhelo  : 
Te  quia  corpore  non  queo,  pectore 

saepe  penetro, 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  4I 

Without  crime,  without  ftorm,  to  mar  and  deform, 

Without    weapons    of    ftrife,    without    matter    of 
quarrel, 
The  Israelites  bleft  in  their  lofty  homes  reft, — 

The  olive  of   peace  intertwined  with  the  laurel. 
O  illuftrious   name,  Zion,    higheft   in   fame, 

Whose  glory   is   that  to  the  glorified   owing, 
Thou    doft    knowledge    dispense    to  the    innermoft 
sense, 

Thy  innermoft  good  thus  secretly  fhowing. 
My   innermoft  eyes,  thus  piercing  the  fkies, 

From  the   mind's   higheft   peaks  delighted    behold 
thee  ; 
Now  my  breaft,  all  on  fire  with  hope  and  defire, 

Transported  expects  sometime  to  enfold  thee. 
Thou  Zion  art  one,  befide  thee  is  none,  — 

Upreared  in  the  fkies  a  myftical  dwelling,  — 
Now  in  thee  I  am  glad,   now  in  me  I  am  sad, 

I  sob  and  I  figh  with  breaft  heaving  and  swelling. 
Since  the  body's  dull  clod   keeps  me  back  from  my 
God, 

Thee  to  pierce  I  oft  try  with  spiritual  pinion, 


42  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

Sed  caro  terrea,  terraque  carnea, 

mox  cado  retro, 
Nemo  retexere,  nemoque   promere 

suftinet   ore 
Quo  tua  mcenia,  quo  capitalia . 

plena  decore  ; 
Opprimit  omne  cor  ille  tuus  decor, 

O   Syon,  O  pax, 
Urbs  fine  tempore,  nulla  poteft  fore 

laus  tibi   mendax  ; 
O   fine  luxibus,   O  fine  luctibus, 

O  fine  lite. 
Splendida  curia,  florida  patria, 

patria  vitae  ! 
Urbs  Syon  inclyta,  turris  et  edita 

littore  tuto, 
Te  peto,  te  colo,  te  flagro,  te  volo, 

canto,  saluto  ; 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  43 

But    earthy  flefh,    flefhy  earth,   makes    th'   attempt 
little  worth, 
And   I   quickly  fall  back  to  the   senses'  dominion. 
No   mortal   may  dare  with   his  mouth   to  declare  — 
The   tafk  were  presumptuous   and   desperate  the 
duty  — 
Where  thy  walls,  how  they  rise,  in  what  part  of  the 
fkies 
Thy  capitals  fhine  complete  in   their  beauty. 
Thy  charms,  they  weigh  down  the  heart  wholly  and 
drown, 
O  Zion  !   O  Peace  beyond  all  conceiving  ! 
City  bleft,  without  time,  dear,  tranquil,  sublime, 

No  poffible  praise  can  e'er  be  deceiving. 
No  delights  vain  and  lewd,  and   no  sorrows  intrude, 
No  ftrife  with  its  waiting,  its  burning  and  blafting ; 
Home  happy  and  high,  flowery  land  of  the  fky, 
Land  native  to  bliss  and  the  life  everlafting. 
City,  seen  from  afar,  where  the  glorified  are, 

On    a   safe   and    high    more,    lo  !    thy   towers   are 
soaring  ; 
Thee  I  sue,  I  admire,  thee  I  love,  I  defire, 
Sing  hymns   unto  thee,  and    salute  thee  adoring. 


44  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

Nec  meritis  peto,  nam   meritis  meto 

morte  perire, 
Nec  reticens  tego,  quod   meritis  ego 

filius  irae  j 
Vita  quidem   mea,   \'ita  nimis  rea, 

mortua   vita, 
Quippe  reatibus  exitialibus 

obruta,  trita. 
Spe  tamen  ambulo,  praemia  poftulo 

speque  fideque, 
Ilia  peren-nia  poftulo  praemia 

nocte   dieque. 
Me   Pater  optimus  atque   piiflimus 

ille  creavit  ; 
In  lue  pertulit,  et  lue  suftulit, 

a  lue  lavit. 
Gratia  coelica  suftinet  unica 

totius  orbis, 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY.  45, 

Not  on   merit,  but  grace,  I  reft  solely  my   case, 

For,  measured  by  merit,  condemned  my  condition  ; 
Not  dumb   and   perverse  do  I   cover  the  worse  — 

I  own   I  'm   a  child  of  wrath  and   perdition. 
My  life  's  a  life  spilt,   void  of  good,   full  of  guilt, 

A  life  like  to  death,  without   vital  expreffions, 
Its     innocence     quenched,     from     its     proper     life 
wrenched, 

Deftroyed  by  reason  of  deadly  transgreffions. 
But  notwithftanding  in  hope  I  walk  softly  and  grope, 

In  hope  and  in  faith  heavenly  guerdons  beseeching  ; 
I   trembling   and   weak,   eternal  joys  seek, 

By  night  and  by  day  imploring  hands  reaching. 
Our  Father  above,  whose  nature  is  love, 

The    beft    and    the    deareft,    He    made    and    He 
saved  me, 
With   my  vileness   He  bore,  from   my  vileness   He 
tore, 

From    my    fin    and    uncleanness    He    graciously 
laved  me. 
Grace  celeftial  alone  is  the  only  means   known, 

The  sovereign  provifion  of  God's  own  appointing, 


Zi     : 


o 

V: 

o 


:t-r:.-  • 


:. .  :  -m: 


J: 


7-t    7. 


: .   - 


Oc- 

A:    - 

_ 


__    1:. 


*  :  ~ 


: 


T: 


: 


: 


48  URBS    CCELESTIS    SYON. 

Spem   solidam   gero  ;   remne  tenens  ero  ? 

die,  Retinebis. 
O  sacer,  O  pius,  O  ter  et  amplius 

ille  beatus, 
Cui  sua  pars  Deus  :   O   miser,  O  reus 

hac   viduatus. 
Bernardus  Cluniacensis. 


THE    BETTER    COUNTRY. 


49 


I  solid   hope  grasp,  what  I  hope  mall  I  clasp  ? 

O  say :    In  thy  arms  thou   forever  (halt  hold  me. 
Advanced   to  that  sphere,   O   holy,  moft  dear, 

O  blefled,  thrice  blefled  and  blefled   forever, 
Who  with  cleaving  of  heart,  chose  God  for  his  part : 

O  wretched,  undone,  who  from  this  did  him  sever. 
Bernard  of  Cluny.     (XII.  Century.) 


VENI    SANCTE   SPIRITUS. 

LL  lovers  of  sacred  song  agree  in  affign- 
l^4|  ing  to  this  Hymn  a  very  high  place. 
Clichtoveus  thinks  it  is  not  poffible  to 
praise  it  enough,  and  finds  it  easy  to 
believe  that  the  author  in  writing  it  was  divinely 
inspired.  Trench  characterizes  it  "  as  the  loveliefr. 
of  all  the  Hymns  in  the  whole  circle  of  Latin  Sacred 
Poetry."  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  discover  the  grounds 
of  so  favorable  an  eftimate. 

Rarely  has  the  spirit  of  prayer  been  more  happily 
embodied,  or  "  winged  for  speedier  flight."  It  is 
the  soul  on  its  knees,  devoutly  receptive,  every  door 
thrown  open,  eager,  expectant,  looking  and  longing 
for  the  immediate  coming  of  the  Celeftial  Vifitant, 
going  forth  to  meet  Him,  to  kiss  His  feet,  to  haiten 
His  approach,  to  teftify  a  holy  and  grateful  welcome, 
not  unmindful,  but  yet  not  deterred  by  the  unspeak- 


VENI    SANCTE    SPIRITUS.  5 1 

able  greatness  of  the  solicited  condescenfion,  in  afk- 
ing  One  "  whom  the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  con- 
tain," to  ftoop  to  the  need  and  poverty  of  its  low 
eftate,  aflured  by  the  sure  word  of  promise,  and  en- 
couraged by  paft  experiences  of  His  faithfulness, 
that  "  whosoever  afketh  receiveth."  Truly,  it  were 
hard  to  find  a  serener,  sweeter,  truer,  truftfuller, 
terser  utterance,  where  words  so  few  expreffed  so 
much,  making  the  air  mufical,  charming  the  ear  with 
their  soft,  plaintive  cadences,  and  penetrating  the 
heart  with  the  infinuating  grace  of  their  prevalent 
pleading. 

The  merits  of  its  metrical  ftruclure  are  in  keeping 
with  its  other  excellences.  It  has  the  triplet  char- 
acter of  Sequences  in  general,  confirming  of  five 
ftrophes  of  fix  lines,  of  seven  syllables  or  ten  halt 
ftrophes,  the  firft  and  second  lines  of  which  rhyme 
together,  the  third  rhyming  with  the  corresponding 
third  line  of  the  following  half  ftrophe.  The  trans- 
lation here  given  is  made  to  conform  to  the  original 
in  these  as  well  as  in  other  respects. 

A  royal  authorfhip  is  claimed  for  the  Hymn.  It 
is  believed   to  have  been  written   by   Robert  II.   of 


52  VENI    SANCTE    SFIRITUS. 

France,  who  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  in  the  year 
996,  succeeded  to  his  father,  Hugh  Capet,  and 
reigned  thirty-three   years.      He   is    described   as  — 

Omnigence  virtutis  alumnus^  — 

"  Pieux,  jufte,  savant,  charitable,  fidele, 
De  toutes  les  vertus,  quel  plus  parfait  modele  ?  " 

By  the  sentence  of  Pope  Gregory  V.,  his  firft  mar- 
riage, which  had  been  to  Bertha,  his  coufin,  was 
difTolved.  He  was  afterwards  married  to  Conftance, 
surnamed  Blanche,  daughter  of  William  Count  d'  Aries 
&  de  Provence,  a  beautiful  princess,  but  proud,  capri- 
cious, and  unbearable,  who  conducted  herself  in  so 
ftrange  and  violent  a  manner  that  but  for  the  moder- 
ation and  wisdom  of  her  hufband  the  kingdom  would 
have  been  overturned.  Befides  being  one  of  the 
mildeft  of  sovereigns  and  the  meekeft  of  men,  he  is 
spoken  of  as  one  of  the  moft  learned  of  his  time, 
particularly  in  mathematics.  So  charitable  was  he 
that  he  had  always  a  thousand  poor  under  his  care, 
whom  he  fed.  He  was  addicted  to  both  poetry  and 
mufic,  and  so  fkilled  in  both  of  these  arts  that  some 
of  his  compofitions  are  ftill  extant  and  in  use.      The 


VENTI    SANCTE    SPIRITUS.  *      53 

following  example  of  magnanimity,  more  than  royal, 
is  given.  A  dangerous  conspiracy  againft  his  king- 
dom and  life  having  been  discovered  and  the  authors 
arretted,  as  the  other  nobles  were  afTembled  to  con- 
demn them  to  death,  he  caused  them  to  be  enter 
tained  in  a  splendid  manner,  and  the  next  day 
admitted  them  to  the  Holy  Communion  ;  after  which 
he  set  them  at  liberty,  saying,  that  he  could  not  put 
to  death  those  whom  Jesus  Chrift  had  juft  received 
at  His  table.  If  these  few  glimpses  of  his  life  re- 
veal to  us  the  nature  of  some  of  his  sorrows,  the 
hymn  here  given,  admitting  that  he  was  the  author, 
mows  no  less  clearly,  as  Trench  remarks,  the  nature 
of  his  consolations. 

The  Lutheran  Form  of  Ordination  prescribes  that 
the  "  Veni  Sancle  Spiritus  "  be  sung  at  the  begin- 
ning of  that  service.  In  the  Romim  Church  it  is 
sung  on  Whitsunday  and  every  day  throughout  the 
week  till  the  Sabbath  following.  From  the  general 
flaughter  of  the  Sequences  made  in  the  fixteenth 
century,  this  and  three  others  were  the  only  ones 
that   escaped.* 

*  See  Dies  Ir;e,  p.  61. 


VENI   SANCTE    SPIRITUS. 


ENI,  San&e   Spiritus, 
Et  emitte  coelitus, 

Lucis  tuae  radium. 
Veni,  pater  pauperum, 
Veni,  daror  munerum, 
Veni,  lumen  cordium. 


II. 

Consolator  optime, 
Dulcis  hospes  animae, 

Dulce  refrigerium. 
In  labore  requies, 
In  aeftu   temperies, 

In  fletu  solatium. 


VENI    SANCTE    SPIRITUS. 


I. 
OME,  O  Holy  Spirit,  come, 
And  from  Thy  celeftial  home 
Of  Thy  light  a  ray  impart ! 
Come  Thou,  Father  of  the   poor ! 
Come  Thou,  Giver  of  heaven's  ftore  ! 
Come  Thou,  Light  of  every  heart  ! 


ii. 
Promised  Comforter  and  beft, 
Of  the  soul  the  deareft  Gueft, 

Sweet   Refrefhment  here  below. 
Reft,  in  labor,  to  the  feet, 
Coolness   in  the  scorching  heat, 

Solace  in  the  time  of  woe. 


56  VENI    SANCTE    SPIR1TUS. 

III. 

O  lux  beatiflima  ! 
Reple  cordis   intima 

Tuorum  fidelium. 
Sine  tuo  numine, 
Nihil  eft  in  homine, 

Nihil  eft  innoxium. 

IV. 

Lava  quod  eft  sordium, 
Riga  quod  eft  aridum, 

Sana  quod   eft  saucium  ! 
Flecte  quod   eft  rigidum, 
Fove  quod  eft  frigidum, 

Rege  quod  eft  devium  ! 

v. 
Da  tuis   fidelibus, 
In   te  confldentibus, 

Sanctum  septenarium  :  * 
Da  virtutis  meritum, 
Da  salutis  exitium, 

Da   perenne  gaudium  ! 

Robertus  Rex  Francis, 
*  The  seven  gifts  of  the  Spirit. 


VENI    SANCTE    SPIR1 1'US.  57 

III. 

O   moft  blelTed  Light  !   the   heart's 
Innermofr,   moft   hidden   parts 

Of  Thy   faithful   people,  fill  ! 
Not   without  Thy   favor  can 
There  be  aught  of  good   in   man, 

Any  thing  that  is  not  ill. 

IV. 

What  is  sordid   make   Thou  clean, 
What  is  dry  make  moift  and  green, 

What  is   wounded    heal   for  aye. 
Bend  what  's  rigid   to  Thy   will, 
Warm  Thou  whatsoe'er  is  chill, 

Guide  what  's  devious  and  aftray. 

v. 

To  Thy   faithful  given   be  — 
Those  confiding  ftill   in   Thee  — 

Gracioufly  the   holy  seven  : 
Give  Thou   virtue's  recompense, 
Give  a   safe  departure   hence, 
Give  th'   eternal  joy  of  heaven. 

Robert  II.  of  France. 
(Beginning  of  XI.  Century.) 


VENI    CREATOR    SPIRITUS. 

HIS  well-known  Hymn,  older  than  the 
"  Veni  San£te  Spiritus,"  is  of  the  same 
pure  type,  both  being  happily  character- 
ized by  a  moll  unromifh  catholicity  that 
makes  them  sweetly  acceptable  to  all  Chriftian  hearts. 
Here,  at  leaft,  there  is  no  profane  admixture  of  bor- 
rowed or  imitated  paganism  —  no  (landing  in  the  old 
Roman  Pantheon,  with  a  retention  of  not  a  little  of 
the  form  and  spirit  of  the  old  worfhip,  paying  vows 
to  manifold  apotheofized  Chriftian  saints,  as  once  to 
deceased  pagan  heroes  or  mythological  divinities  — 
but  a  solemn  address  and  devout  prayer  to  that 
"  Creator  Spirit,"  who,  in  the  sublime  language  of 
Milton, — 

u  from  the  firft 
Was  present,  and  with  mighty  wings  outspread 


VENI    CREATOR    SPIR1TUS.  59 

Dove-like  sat  brooding  on  the  vaft  abyss 
And  made  it  pregnant  "  — 

"  the  third  subfiftence  of  the  divine  infinitude,  illu- 
minating Spirit,  the  joy  and  solace  of  created  things  ;  " 
"  who  can  enrich  with  all  utterance  and  knowledge, 
and  sends  out  His  Seraphim  with  the  hallowed  fire 
of  His  altar,  to  touch  and  purify  the  lips  of  whom 
He  pleases  ;  "  the  third  person  of  "  the  One  tri- 
personal  Godhead  "  — 

"  that  doth  prefer, 
Before  all  temples,  th'  upright  heart  and  pure,"  — 

not  invoked  as  a  Muse  to  inspire  the  poet's  song  and 
bear  him  upward  on  the  wings  of  a  swift  rapture  to 
"the  higheft  heaven  of  invention,"  —  but  as  the 
indispensable  Begetter  of  a  new  spiritual  life  in  the 
loft  soul  of  man  ;  the  Finger  of  the  mighty  power 
of  God  whose  saving  and  converting  touch,  reaching 
to  the  deepeft  springs  of  human  thought,  feeling,  and 
conduct,  uplifts  to  the  serene  altitude  of  "heavenly 
places  in  Chrift  Jesus  j  "  the  myftery  of  an  ineffable 
Cause,  working  effectually  "  to  will  and  to  do  "  in 
perfect  harmony  with   the   utmoft   mora]  freedom  of 


60  VENI    CREATOR    SPIRITUS. 

a&ion  and  volition  ;  the  supreme  Gift,  and  the  infi- 
nite Giver  of  gifts  ;  the  refident  Paraclete,  domefti- 
cated  in  human  consciousness  ;  the  Light  of  a  fteady 
illumination,  and  the  Fire  of  a  continual  joy  ;  the 
incredible  sweetness  of  whose  comforting  and  com- 
pensatory presence  and  perpetual  indwelling,  accord- 
ing to  the  marvelous  saying  of  the  Divine  Lord 
Himself,  making  it  expedient  that  He  mould  go  away 
in  order  that  there  might  follow  this  subftituted  and 
surpafllng  blefTedness  to  His  bereaved  and  orphaned 
disciples  when  deprived  of  His  own  fight  and  soci- 
ety ;  —  the  Promise  of  the  Father,  Proceeding  Spirit, 
manifefted  in  a  miraculous  outpouring  of  baptismal 
fullness  on  the  day  of  Pentecoft,  as  a  crowning  proof 
to  all.,  that  He  whom  the  Jews  had  crucified  had 
indeed  palled  into  the  higheft  heaven  and  been  to 
"  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted,"  thence  to  dispense 
this  immeasurable  grace  to  the  children  of  men,  that 
they  in  turn  might  celebrate  in  glad  doxologies  the 
triune  Jehovah,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghoft,  through- 
out all  ages,  Amen  ! 

Although    it   is   not  certainly  known   that  Charle- 
magne  is   the   author,   he    is  commonly  so   reputed. 


VENI    CREATOR    SPIRITUS.  6l 

Others  think  the  probabilities  are  in  favor  of  Gregory 
the  Great.  They  say,  the  claflic  metre  with  the  in- 
termingling rhymes,  and  the  ftyle  generally,  are  Greg- 
ory's. So,  too,  the  claflic  scanfion  of  the  fifth  line 
making  the  penult  of  u  ParaclTtus"  long,  betrays,  it  is 
argued,  the  Grecian  which  Gregory  was,  and  Char- 
lemagne was  not.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  aiTerted 
that  Charlemagne  was  quite  equal  to  the  tafk.  "  His 
eloquence,"  says  his  Secretary,  "was  abundant.  He 
was  able  to  express  with  facility  all  he  wifhed  ;  and 
not  content  with  his  mother  tongue,  he  beftowed 
great  pains  upon  foreign  languages.  He  had  taken 
so  well  to  the  Latin,  that  he  was  able  to  speak  pub- 
licly in  that  language  almoft  as  eafily  as  in  his  own. 
He  underftood  Greek  and  ftudied  Hebrew."  He 
wrote  other  verses,  which  are  ftill  extant  :  —  an  epi- 
taph on  Adrian  I.,  the  Song  of  Roland,  an  ode  to 
the  scholar  Warnefride,  and  an  epigram  in  hexameter 
verse.  There  exifts  a  letter  addrefled  by  him  to  his 
bifhops,  entitled  De  gratia  septiformis  Spiritus^  mow- 
ing that  he  took  a  special  intereft  in  the  subject  of 
the  Hymn.  Moieover,  the  twofold  proceflion  of 
the   Holy  Ghoft,  affirmed  in   the   fixth   ftrophe,  and 


62  VENI    CREATOR    SPIRITUS. 

with  an  emphafis  implying  that  it  was  confidered  an 
important  article  of  belief,  was  firft  confirmed  as  the 
do&rine  of  the  Weftern  Church  by  a  Synod  afTem- 
bled  under  imperial  auspices  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in 
the  year  809  ;  and  this  circumftance  ftrengthens,  it 
is  thought,  the  probability  that  he  was  the  author. 
Charlemagne,  "  claimed  by  the  Church  as  a  saint, 
by  the  French  as  their  greateft  king,  by  the  Germans 
as  their  countryman,  by  the  Italians  as  their  emperor," 
died  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  we  are  told,  with  his  crown 
upon  his  head,  and  his  copy  of  the  Gospels  upon  his 
knees. 

Befides  being  used  as  a  Pentecoftal  Hymn,  it  has 
been  the  cuftom  to  employ  it  on  great  occafions  like 
the  coronation  of  kings,  the  celebration  of  synods, 
and,  in  the  Romifh  Church,  the  creation  of  popes, 
&c.  It  is  the  only  Breviary  Hymn  retained  by  the 
Episcopal  Church,  where  a  place  is  affigned  it  in  the 
offices  for  the  ordination  of  priefts  and  the  consecra- 
tion of  bifhops.  The  Prayer  Book  contains  two 
verfions.  Dryden's  admirable  paraphrase  is  well 
known.  The  rendering  here  given  is  much  more 
close.       In    German   there   are   several   tranflations. 


VENI    CREATOR    SPIRITUS.  63 

One    by    Luther    begins  :     Kum     Schepher    beiliger 
Geiji. 

The  Latin  text  varies  in  different  editions.  Some 
interpolate  between  the  5th  and  6th  verses  the  fol- 
lowing additional  one  : 

Da  gaudiorum  pramia, 
Da  gratiarum  munera, 
Diffolve  litis  vincula, 
Adftringe  pacis  foedera. 

The  final  verse  is  sometimes  given  thus  : 

Sit  laus  Patri  cum  Filio, 
San&o  fimul  Paraclito, 
Nobisque  mittat  Filius, 
Charisma  San£ti  Spiritus. 

That  the  final  verse  was  added  afterwards  may  be 
deduced  from  the  fa£t  that  the  quantity  of  "  Para- 
clito "  in  this  differs  from  that  of  "  Paraclitus  "  in 
the  second  verse  of  the  hymn — the  penult  in  the 
one  case  being  fhort  and  in  the  other  long.  The 
Hymn  moreover  in  its  present  form  has,  so  to  speak, 
a  double  doxology  or  celebration  of  the  Trinity, 
which  increases  the  probability  that  it  ended  origin- 
ally with  the  fixth   verse. 


VENI    CREATOR   SPIRITUS. 


ENI,  Creator  Spiritus, 
Mens  tuorum  vifita, 
Imple   superna  gratia, 
Quae  tu  crcafti  pectora. 


Qui  Paraclitus  diceris 
Donum   Dei   akiffimi, 
Fons   vivus,  ignis,  charitas, 
Et  spiritalis  un&io. 


in. 

Tu  septiformis  munere,1 
Dextrae  Dei  tu  digitus,2 
Tu  rite  promifium   Patris, 
Sermone  ditans  guttura. 


VENI    CREATOR    SPIRITUS. 

l. 
REATOR   Spirit,   Gueft   Divine, 
Come,  vifit  and   inhabit  Thine, 
Enter  the   mind's   Moil   Holy    Place, 
And  breads  Thou  madeft  fill  with  grace. 


ii. 
Thou   who  art  called   the   Paraclete, 
Of  God   Mod    High   the   Gift  complete, 
The   Living  Fount,   the   Fire,  the  Love, 
And    Holy   Unction   from  above. 

in. 
Sevenfold  the  gifts  at  Thy   command, 
Finger   of  God's  supreme  right   hand, 
The   Promise  of  the  Father,  who 
Dofr.   throats  enrich  with  utt'rance  new. 
9 


66  VENI    CREATOR    SPIRITUS. 

TV. 

Accende  lumen  senfibus, 
Infunde  amorem  cordibus, 
Infirma  noftri  corporis, 
Virtute  firmans  perpeti. 

v. 
Hoftem   repellas  longius, 
Pacemque  dones  protinus  : 
Du6tore  fie  te  praevio 
Vitemus  omne  noxium. 

VI. 

Per  te  sciamus  da  Patrem 
Noscamus  atque  Filium, 
Teque  utriusque  Spiritum 
Credamus  omni  tempore. 

VII. 

Deo  Patri  fit  gloria, 
Et  Filio,  qui  a  mortuis 
Surrexit,  ac  Paraclito, 
In  saeculorum  saecula. 

Carolus  Magnus. 


VEN1    CREATOR    SPIRITUS.  67 

IV. 

Kindle  the   senses,  light  impart, 
Infuse  Thy  love  in   every  heart, 
Weaken  our  body's  bent  to  wrong, 
In  lading  virtue  making  ftrong. 

v. 
Drive  farther  off  the  hellifh  foe, 
And  conftant  peace  henceforth  beftow. 
May  we  —  Thou,  Leader  in  the  wayr— 
All  evil  fhun,  nor  go  aftray. 

VI. 

Grant  we  may  know  in  verity 
The  Father  and  the  Son  through  Thee ; 
And  in  all  time  may  Thee  believe 
Spirit  of  Both,  and  so  receive. 

VII. 

Be  God  the  Father   glorified,- 
And  God  the  Son  who  for  us  died 
And  rose,  and  God  the  Paraclete, 
Ages  on  ages  infinite. 

Charlemagne.     (Beginning  of  IX.  Century.) 


68  VENl    CREATOR    SPIRITUS. 

1  The  seven  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (Isaiah  xi.  2,  3)  are: 
1.  Wisdom  {sapient id)  ;  2.  Underftanding  (intelleflus)  ; 
3.  Counsel  (conjitium)  ;  4.  Fortitude  {fortitudo)  ;  5.  Knowl- 
edge (scientia)  ;  6.  Piety  (pietas)  ;  7.  Fear  of  the  Lord 
(timor).    Whence  the  verse  :  — 

Sap.  intel.  con.  for.  sci.  pi.  ti.  collige  dona. 

2  The  title  here  given  to  the  Holy  Ghoft —  Digitus  Dei  — 
borrowed  from  Luke  xi.  20,  and  answering  to  the  Spiritus  Dei 
of  Matthew  xii.  28,  is  adapted,  so  it  is  thought,  to  suggeft 
other  ideas  befides  the  fingle  one  of  power.  As  the  fingers  are 
various  but  have  a  common  origin  in  the  hand,  so  there  are 
diverfities  of  gifts  and  operations,  but  the  same  Spirit.  Not- 
vvithftanding  divifions,  there  is  a  root  of  unity.  Jerome  finds 
in  it  moreover  a  hint  of  the  homooufian  union  of  the  Spirit 
with  the  Father  and  the  Son.  "  If,  therefore,'1  he  argues,  "  the 
Son  is  the  hand  and  arm  of  God,  and  the  Holy  Ghoft  His  fin- 
ger, there  is  one  subftance  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghoft."  It  is  ftated  in  Exodus  that  "the  Lord  delivered  unto 
Moses  two  tables  of  ftone  written  with  the  finger  of  God ;  " 
and  Paul  speaks  of  the  Corinthian  converts  as  "  epiftles  of 
Chrift,  written  not  with  ink,  but  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  ; 
not  in  tables  of  ftone,  but  in  the  flefhly  tables  of  the  heart,"  — 
thus  furnishing  another  illuftration  of  scriptural  usage  in  as- 
cribing the  same  function  and  work  to  the  finger  of  God  and 
the  Spirit  of  God. 


ALPHABETIC    JUDGMENT-HYMN. 


his    time. 


(HYMNUS    ALPHABETICUS    DE    DIE   JUDICII.) 

HE  venerable  Bede,  an  Englifh  monk, 
who  lived  in  the  seventh  century,  makes 
mention  of  this  Alphabetical  Hymn,  so 
that  it  muft  have  been  written  before 
The  author  is  unknown.  Daniel  re-- 
marks :  "  It  is  interefting  to  compare  this  piece  on 
the  Laft  Judgment  with  that  mod  celebrated  one, 
Dies  irte,  dies  ilia,  by  which  in  majefty  and  terror, 
not  in  holy  fimplicity  and  truthfulness,  it  is  surpafTed." 
Neale,  likewise,  speaking  of  this  Hymn,  says  :  "  It 
manifeftly  contains  the  germ  of  the  Dies  Ircz,  to 
which,  however  inferior  in  lyric  fervor  and  effecl:,  it 
scarcely  yields  in  devotion  and  fimple  realization  of 
the  subject." 


HYMNUS    DE    DIE   JUDICII. 


PPAREBIT      repentina      Dies     Magna 
Domini 
Fur  obscura  velut  no&e  improvisos  oc- 
cupans, 
B  revis  totus  turn  parebit  prisci  luxus  saeculi, 

Totum  fimul  cum  clarebit  praeteriffe  saeculum. 
C  langor  tubae  per  quaternas  terrae  plagas  concinens, 

Vivos  una  mortuosque  Chrifto  ciet  obviam. 
D  e  ccelefti  Judex  arce,  majeftate  fulgidus 

Claris   angelorum   choris  comitatus  aderit : 
E  rubescet  orbis  lunas,   sol   et  obscurabitur, 

Stella  cadent  pallescentes,  mundi  tremet  ambitus  ; 
P  lamma,  ignis  anteibit  jufti  vultum  Judicis, 

Coelos,  terras  et  profundi  fluclus  ponti  devorans. 
G  loriosus  in  sublimi  Rex  sedebit  solio, 

Angelorum   temebunda  circumftabant  agmina, 


JUDGMENT-HYMN. 


S  a  thief  in  the  night,  when  none  waketh 
to  ward, 
Shall  be  the  surprise  of  that  Day  of  the 
Lord  j 

B  rief  fhall   then   seem   all  its  pomp  and   display- 
When  the  world  mall  have  palled  and  its  fafhion 
away. 
C  langor  of  trumpet-call,  everywhere  spread, 

Shall  gather  to  Chrift  all   the  quick  and  the  dead. 
D  azzling  from   heaven  the  Judge  mall  descend, — 

Bright  choirs  of  angels  His  coming  attend  : 
E  'en  as  blood  fhall  the  moon  be,  the  sun  it  mall 
fade, 
Stars   paling  fhall   fall,  and   the  world   be   afraid  ; 
'P  ore  the  face  of  the  Judge,  lo  !   a  fire  fhall  sweep 
Devouring  the  heavens,  the  land  and   the  deep. 
G  lorious  the  King  fhall  be  seated  on  high, 

While  trembling  around   ftand  the  hofts   of  the 
fky. 


72  HYMNUS    DE    DIE    JUDICII. 

H  ujus  omnes  ad   ele6ti   colligentur   dexteram, 

Pravi   pavent  a  finiftris   hoedi   velut  foetidi  : 
I  te,  dicit   Rex  ad  dextros,   regnum  coeli  sumite, 

Pater   vobis  quod   paravit  ante  omne  saeculum, 
C  aritate  qui   fraterna   me  juviftis   pauperem, 

Caritatis  nunc   mercedem   reportate  divites. 
L  seti  dicent :  quando,  Chrifte,  pauperem  te  vidimus, 

Te,  Rex  magne,   vel  egentem   miserati  juvimus  : 
M  agnus   illis  dicet  Judex  :    cum  juviftis  pauperes, 

Panem,     domum,     veftem      dantes,     me     juviftis 
humiles. 
Nee  tardabat  et  finiftris  loqui  juftus  Arbiter: 

In   Gehenna   maledicti   flammas   hinc  discedite  ; 
O  bsecrantem   me  audire   despexiftis    mendicum, 

Nudo  veftem  non  dediftis,  neglexiftis   languidum. 
P  eccatores  dicent :  Chrifte,  quando  te  vel  pauperem, 

Te,    Rex     magne,    vel    infirmum    contemnentes 
sprevimus. 
Q,  uibus  contra  Judex  altus  :   mendicanti   quamdiu 

Opem  ferre  despexiftis,  ne  spreviftis  improbi. 


JUDGMENT-HYMN.  73 

TT  is  elect  on  the  right  (hall  be  gathered,  the  while 

On  His  left  fhall  be  placed  the  wicked  and  vile  ; 

cc  I  nherit    the    kingdom  "  —  (hall    the  King  say  to 

those  —  [was  ; 

M  The  Father  prepared   for   you  ere  the  world 

"  K  indly,  Me  poor,  ye  did  succor  in  love, 

"  Love's  guerdon   receive   now,  ye  rich,    from 
above." 
"  L  ord,"  they  mall  say,  "  when  did  we  e'er  see 
"  Thee    poor,    and     in    want    gave    succor    to 
Thee?" 
"Me"  —  fhall  He  say  —  "  ye  did  succor,  't  was  I 
"  When  ye  cared  for  the  poor,  fhared  the  timely 
supply." 
N  ext,  over  the  left,  in  loud  thunders  fhall  burft  : 
"  To  the  flames  of  Gehenna  depart  ye  accurft  : 
"On  Me  needy  ye  looked  and  turned  a  deaf  ear, 
"  When    naked    Me    clothed    not,   when    fick 
came  not  near." 
"Pray  tell  us,  Great  King,  when,  poor  or  forlorn, 
"  Did  we  ever  contemn    Thee    or    treat    Thee 
with  scorn  ?  " 
Q,  ueflioned,  the  Judge  fhall  then  answer  :  "Know  ye 
"  What  time  ye  the  needy  despised  ye  did  Me." 


74  HYMNUS    DE    DIE    JUDICII. 

~R  etro  ruent  turn  injufti  ignes  hi  perpetuos, 

Vermis  quorum  non  morietur,  flamma  nee  reftin- 
guitur, 
S  atan  atro  cum  miniftris  quo  tenetur  carcere, 

Fletus   ubi  mugitusque,  ftrident  omnes  dentibus. 
T  unc   fideles  ad  cceleftem   suftollentur  patriam, 

Choros  inter  angelorum  regni  petent  gaudia, 
U  rbis  summae   Hirusalem  introibunt  gloriam 

Vera  lucis  atque   pacis   in  qua  fulget  vifio. 
X  PA1  regem  jam  paterna  claritate  splendidum 

Ubi  celsa  beatorum  contemplantur  agmina  — 
Y  dri  fraudes  ergo  cave,  infirmantes  subleva, 

Aurum  temne,  fuge  luxus  fi   vis  aftra  petere, 
Z  ona  clara  caiHtatis  lumbos  nunc  praecingere, 

In  occursum  Magni  Regis  fer  ardentes  lampades. 


JUDGMENT-HYMN.  75 

R  ufh  (hall  the  wicked  then,  plunged  in  the  fire 
Where    the   worm  fhall    not    die  nor  the  flame 
fhall  expire. 
S  atan  in  chains  fhall  there  hold  them  beneath, 
Where  are  weeping  and  wailing  and  gnafhing  of 
teeth. 
T  hen  the  faithful,  upborne  to  the  heavenly  land, 
Shall  partake  of  the  joys  at  Jehovah's  right  hand  ; 
U  fhered  fhall  be  in  that  Salem  above 

Where  fhines  the  true  vifion  of  light,  peace,  and 
love  ; 
'X  alted  as  King,  in  divinity  dreft, 

There  Chrift  fhall  be  viewed  by  the  hofts  of  the 
bleft. 
You  the  Serpent's  wiles  fhun,  you  the  weak  ones 
suftain, 
Scorn  gold,  flee  excess,  would  you  the  ftars  gain. 
Z  one  of  chaftity  bright  be  your  girdle,  forth  bring 
Your  lamps  trimmed  and   burning  to   meet    the 
Great  King. 

Unknown  Author. 
(VII.  Century,  or  earlier.) 


ON    CONTEMPT   OF   THE  WORLD. 

(CARMEN  JACOPONI  DE  CONTEMPTU  MUNDI.) 

HIS  Hymn  was  firft  printed  in  Paris, 
1496.  It  has  been  ascribed  to  various 
persons,  among  the  reft  to  St.  Bernard  ; 
also  to  Walter  Mapes,  Archdeacon  of 
Oxford,  England,  who  lived  in  the  twelfth  or  thir- 
teenth century.  But  Wadding,  in  his  u  Annals  of 
the  Minorites,"  points  to  Jacopone  as  the  true  au- 
thor of  this  as  well  as  of  the  Stabat  Mater ;  and 
this  now  would  seem  to  be  the  received  opinion. 
Du  Meril  collates  the  third  and  fourth  verses  with 
the  following  lines  taken  from  another  part  of  the 
same  poem  as  "The  Better  Country,"  —  Bernard's 
"  De  Contemptu  Mundi."  The  reader  will  readily 
recognize  the  rhyming  hexameter  with  which  he  was 
made  familiar  in  the  former  extract : 


ON    CONTEMPT    OF    THE    WORLD.  *]-] 

"  Eft  ubi  gloria  nunc,  Babylonia  ?  sunt  ubi  durus 
Nabuchodonozor  et  Darii  vigor,  illeque  Cyrus? 
Nunc  ubi  curia  pompaque  Iulia  ?     Cassar  obifti ; 
Te  truculentior,  orbe  potentior  ipse  fuifti. 
Nunc  ubi  Marius  atque  Fabricius  inscius  auri  ? 
Mors  ubi  nobilis  et  memorabilis  aclio  Pori  ? 
Diva  philippica,  vox  ubi  ccelica  nunc  Ciceronis  ? 
Pax  ubi  civibus  atque  rebellibus  ira  Catonis  ? 
Nunc  ubi  Regulus,  aut  ubi  Romulus,  aut  ubi  Remus? 
Stat  rosa  priftina  nomine,  nomina  nuda  tenemus." 

Here  is  more  in  the  same  vein,  occurring  in  a 
hymn  "  On  Death,"  of  an  uncertain  date  and  by  an 
unknown  author: 

"  Ubi  Plato,  ubi  Porphyrius  ; 
Ubi  Tullius  aut  Virgilius  ; 
Ubi  Thales,  ubi  Empedocles, 
Aut  egregius  Ariftoteles  ; 
Alexander  ubi  rex  maximus  ; 
Ubi  He&or  Troias  fortiffimus ; 
Ubi  David  rex  do&immus, 
Ubi  Salomon  prudentiffimus ; 
Ubi  Helena  Parisque  roseus  ; 
Ceciderunt  in  profundum  ut  lapides  : 
Quis  scit,  an  detur  eis  requies." 


DE   CONTEMPTU   MUNDI. 


I. 

UR  mundus  militat  sub  vana  gloria, 
Cujus  prosperitas  eft  tranfitoria? 
Tam  cito  labitur  ejus  potentia, 
Quam  vasa  figuli,  quae  sunt  fragilia. 


II. 

Plus  crede  literis  scriptis  in  glacie, 
Quam  mundi  fragilis  vanae  fallaciae  ! 
Fallax  in  praemiis  virtutis  specie, 
Quae  nunquam  habuit  tempus  fiduciae. 

in. 
Die,  ubi  Salomon,  olim  tam  nobilis, 
Vel  ubi  Sampson  eft,  dux  invincibilis  ? 


ON   CONTEMPT   OF   THE   WORLD. 

I. 

HY  toileth  the  world  in  the  service  of 

glory, 

Whose  triumphs  are  brief,  though  the 
proudeft  in   ftory  ? 
Its  power,  though  as  high  as  the  heart  ever  flattered, 
Like  the  vase  of  the  potter,  that  quickly  is  fhattered. 

II. 

Truft  a  pledge  writ  in  ice  when  winter  is  leaving  — 
Than    the    world's     fair    falsehoods    less    vain    and 

deceiving  ! 
Moft  false  in  its  promise  of  virtue's  rewarding, 
The  time  of  redemption   it  never  regarding. 


ill. 


O  say,  where  is  Solomon,  aforetime  so  glorious? 
Or  where  now  is  Sampson,  a  leader  victorious  ? 


80  DE    CONTEMPTU    MUNDI. 

Vel   pulcher   Absalom,  vultu   mirabilis, 
Vel  dulcis  Jonathas,  multum  amabilis  ? 

IV. 

Quo  Caesar  abiit,  celsus  imperio  ? 

Vel  Xerxes  splendidus,  totus  in  prandio  ? 

Die  ubi  Tullius,  clarus  eloquio  ? 

Vel  Ariftoteles,  summus  ingenio  ? 

v. 

Tot  clari  proceres,  tot  rerum  spatia, 
Tot  ora  praesulum,  tot  regna  fortia, 
Tot  mundi  principes,  tanta  potentia, 
In  i&u  oculi  clauduntur  omnia. 

VI. 

Quam  breve  feftum  eft  haec  mundi  gloria  ! 
Ut  umbra  hominis,  lie  ejus  gaudia, 
Quae  semper  subtrahunt  aeterna  praemia, 
Et  ducunt  hominem  ad  dura  devia. 


ON    CONTEMPT    OF    THE    WORLD.  8 1 

Or  beautiful  Absalom,  with  aspect  uncommon  ? 
Or  Jonathan   sweet,   more  loving  than  woman  ? 

IV. 

Where  's  Caesar   gone  now,  in  command   high  and 

able  ? 
Or  Xerxes  the  splendid,  complete  in   his  table  ? 
Or  Tully,  with  powers  of  eloquence  ample  ? 
Or  Aristotle,  of  genius  the   higheft  example  ? 

v. 
So   many  great  nobles,  things,  adminiftrations, 
So   many   high   chieftains,  so   many  brave   nations, 
So  many   proud   princes,  and   power  so  splendid, 
In   a   moment,  a  twinkling,  all   utterly  ended. 

VI. 

How    vain    this   world's  glory,    a   brief   banquet    its 

measure, 
As  is  a  man's   fhadow  so  also  its  pleasure, 
Which   forever  of  endless  rewards  make  deduction, 
And  lead   in   the   hard  devious   paths  of  deftruction. 
1 1 


82 


DE    CONTEMPTU    MUNDI. 


VII. 


O  esca  vermium,  O   mafia  pulveris, 
O  ros,  O   vanitas,  cum  fie  extolleris  ? 
Ignoras  penitus,   utrum  eras  vixeris  ; 
Benefac  omnibus,  quamdiu  poteris  ! 


VIII. 


Haec   mundi  gloria,  quae  magni  penditur, 
Sacris  in  Uteris   flos   foeni  dicitur ; 
O  leve  folium,  quod   vento  rapitur  ! 
Sic   vita  hominis  hac  via  tollitur. 


IX. 

Nil  tuum   dixeris,  quod   potes  perdere  ! 
Quod   mundus  tribuit,  intendit  rapere. 
Superna  cogita  !  cor  fit  in  sethere  ! 
Felix,  qui   potuit  mundum  contemnere  ! 

Jacobus  de  Benedictis. 


ON    CONTEMPT    OF    THE    WORLD.  83 

VII. 

O  food  for  the  worms,  O  mass  of  duft  drifted, 
O  dew,  O  vanity,   for  what  so  uplifted  ? 
Thou   know'ft  not   at   all,  if  thou  'It    live   till    to- 
morrow ; 
Do  good  while  thou  canft  to  the  children  of  sorrow. 

VIII. 

That  glory,  by   the  great  so  much   eftimated, 
As  the  flower  of  grass  is  in   Holy  Writ  rated  : 
O   leaf  light  and   frail,   by   the  wind    snatched    and 

harried, 
Ev'n  so  human  life  is  away  from  earth   carried. 

IX. 

Thou  fhould'ft   call   nought  thy  own  which  is  loft 

ere  one   knoweth, 
The  world   taketh  back  the  good   it  beftoweth  : 
On  supernal  joys  think  !   let  thy  heart  be  in  heaven  ! 
Contemn  thou  the  world,  and   beware  of  its  leaven. 

Jacopone.     (XIII.  Century.) 


MATER  DOLOROSA 


Vfe- 


tixkut  muttt 


Ub\ 


HYMN    OF    THE    SORROWS   OF   MARY 


TRANSLATED    BY 


1/ 
ABRAHAxM    COLES,   M.  D.,    Ph.D. 


With   Photograph 


NEW   YORK 

D.   APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1867 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1865,  by 

Abraham  Coles, 

in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of 

New  Jersey. 


PROEM. 


HE  celebrated  Paffion  Hymn,  the  Stabat 
Mater,  is  so  conftantly  affociated  with 
the  Dies  Iras  that  to  mention  the  one  is 
to  suggeft  the  other.  It  has  been  thought, 
therefore,  that  a  Tranflation  of  this  Prosa  likewise, 
made  as  literal  as  poffible,  might  be  acceptable  to 
some  readers,  and  form  a  not  unsuitable  appendage 
to  the  former  volume,  by  supplying  a  ready  means 
of  comparison  between  two  productions,  about  which, 
down  to  this  day  even,  there  has  been  a  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  which  should  be  awarded  the  palm 
of  superiority. 

It  is  hardly  necefTary  to  say  that  reference  is  here 
had  to  their  lyrical  merits  only  ;  for  while  the  devout 
Proteftant  finds  nothing  in  the  Judgment  Hymn  to 
jar  with  his  own  religious  convictions,  he  is  neces- 
sarily offended   in  the   Stabat  Mater  by  a  devotion  he 


4  PROEM. 

believes  misdirected  and  idolatrous,  in  the  adoration 
which  it  pays  to  the  Virgin.  He  is  aware,  however, 
that  in  the  formation  of  a  critical  eftimate  of  the  two, 
theological  confiderations  have  no  right  to  enter  ; 
and  certainly  the  moft  zealous  Romanift  will  be  con- 
ftrained  to  admit  that  there  has  been  no  backward- 
ness evinced  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  not  of  his 
faith  to  do  ample  juftice  to  the  lyric  excellence  of 
the  latter.  Some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  place  it 
above  its  great  rival,  but  this  is  not  the  general  judg- 
ment, nor  is  it  ours. 

Beautiful  it  undoubtedly  is,  and  powerful  in  its 
pathos  beyond  almoft  anything  that  has  ever  been 
written  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  (and  the  same 
indeed  may  be  said  of  the  Dies  Irae  likewise)  that  it 
owes  much  of  its  power  to  make  us  admire  and  weep 
to  the  transcendent  nature  of  its  theme.  Beyond 
controversy,  the  moft  affecting  spectacle  ever  ex- 
hibited to  the  gaze  of  the  universe,  was  that  wit- 
nefled  on  Mount  Calvary.  That  amazing  scene  — 
Jesus  on  the  cross  and  his  mother  ftanding  near  — 
had  been,  of  course,  a  familiar  objecl:  of  contempla- 
tion   to    all   Chriftian    hearts,    centuries    before    the 


PROEM.  5 

author  wrote.  His  chief  bufmess  therefore  would 
be  not  to  originate  but  reproduce. 

Evidently  the  key-note  of  the  Hymn  is  ftruck  in 
the  two  firft  lines,  of  which  the  language  is  wholly 
borrowed  (bating  the  epithets,  which  are  not  in  the 
manner  of  the  sacred  writers)  from  the  Evangelift 
John,  as  found  in  the  Latin  verfion  :  Stabat  juxta 
crucem  mater  ejus.  This  brief  but  wonderfully  sug- 
geftive  sentence,  /urnimes  an  outline  which  the 
pooreft  imagination  would  be  capable  of  filling  up 
in  a  degree.  Every  mother's  heart,  for  example, 
would  suffice  to  tell  what  an  abyss  of  tears  muft 
have  gone  to  make  up  that  hiatus  in  the  narrative, 
which  leaves  solely  to  inference  what  were  the  feel- 
ings of  her,  who,  without  comprehending  the  mys- 
tery, flood  there  gazing  upward  on  the  agonized  face 
and  writhing  form  of  her  divine  Son,  through  the 
long  hours  of  mortal  anguifh  during  which  he  hung 
upon  the  cross. 

But  however  spontaneous  and  natural,  —  however 
true,  beautiful,  and  even  poetic,  —  and  however  vivid 
the  emotions  of  sorrow,  terror,  and  pity,  arifing  out 
of    these    inftinctive    and    uninftructed    perceptions, 


b  PROEM. 

there  is  a  vagueness  as  well  as  vividness,  and  a  re- 
sulting incapacity  to  express  clearly  and  adequately 
what  is  so  genuinely  felt.  The  ability  to  do  this  is 
rare,  and  rarer  ftill  the  poetic  faculty,  whereby  the 
unwritten  melody  of  the  heart  is  accommodated  to 
all  lips  and  sung  in  all  ears.  To  say  that  the  author 
of  the  Stabat  Mater  poflefled  this  power  and  achieved 
this  triumph  is  to  beftow  upon  him  and  his  work 
the  higheft  praise. 

Rude  though  he  be,  and  a  ftammerer  of  barbarous 
Latin,  he  gives  undeniable  evidence  of  being  a  true 
poet.  He  has  clairvoyance  and  second  fight.  The 
diftant  and  the  paft  are  made  to  him  a  virtual  here 
and  now.  He  is  in  Italy,  but  he  is  also  in  Judea. 
He  lives  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  is  an  eye- 
witness of  the  crucifixion  in  the  beginning  of  the 
firft.  He  has  immediate  vifion.  All  that  is  tran- 
spiring on  Golgotha  is  diftin&ly  pictured  on  the  retina 
of  his  mind's  eye.  And  by  the  light  which  is  in 
him  he  photographs  what  he  sees  for  the  use  of 
others.  His  ecce !  is  no  pointless  indication,  but  an 
actual  mowing.  The  wail  he  utters  is  a  veritable 
echo  of  that  which  goes  up  from  the  cross.  Every- 
thing: is  true  to  nature  and  to  life. 


PROEM, 


The  Hymn  confifts  of  two  parts.  The  firft  four 
verses  give  a  description  of  the  fituation  and  charac- 
ter of  the  actors  in  the  drama,  as  pictorially  powerful 
as  scripturally  juft.  From  this  fruitful  source  have 
come  all  the  Mater  Dolorosas  of  the  Painters.  It 
is  afTumed,  in  accordance  with  the  belief  of  the 
Fathers,  that  the  prophecy  of  Simeon  :  "  A  sword 
fhall  pass  through  thy  own  soul  also,"  had  then  its 
proper  fulfilment.  In  the  remaining  fix  verses,  the 
writer  henceforth  diflatisfied  with  the  role  of  a  spec- 
tator, seeks  to  identify  himself  with  the  tragic  scene  ; 
prays  that  he  may  be  permitted  to  bear  a  part,  not 
in  the  way  of  sympathy  merelv,  but  of  suffering  also, 
and  this  too,  the  same  both  in  kind  and  degree  >  that, 
enduring  ftripe  for  ftripe,  wound  for  wound,  there 
might  be  to  him  in  every  ftage  of  the  Redeemer's 
paffion,  groan  answering  to  groan. 

It  is  now  that  the  Franciscan  appears  quite  as 
much  as  the  Chriftian.  Even  when,  as  in  the  8th 
verse,  he  quotes  St.  Paul  (who  speaks  of  "  bearing 
about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus"),  he 
is  evidently  thinking  of  St.  Francis.  He  would  fain 
have  repeated   the   miracle  of  the  "Stigmata"  in  his 


8  PROEM. 

own  person,  — have  an  actual  and  vifible  reproduc- 
tion of  the  print  of  the  nails  and  the  spear  in  his  own 
hands  and  feet  and  fide.  As  "  plagas  "  in  the  laft 
line  of  the  same  verse  is  used  not  unfrequently  in  the 
sense,  not  so  much  of  wounds  as  the  marks  and  ap- 
pearances left  by  wounds,  it  would  correspond  very 
exactly  with  the  ftigmata  named  in  the  legend,  and 
moft  likely,  in  the  author's  use  of  it,  it  was  intended 
as  a  synonym.  The  poffibility  of  such  a  literalness, 
however  incredible  to  us,  would  not  be  so  to  him. 

This  Hymn  is  full  of  the  implied  merit  of  suffering, 
—  its  meritoriousness  in  itself.  And  this  is  probably 
one  of  the  reasons  why  it  became  such  a  favorite 
with  the  Flagellants,  otherwise  called  Brethren  of 
the  Cross  (Crucifrates)  and  Cross-Bearers  (Cruciferi), 
penitents  who,  in  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and 
fifteenth  centuries  went  about  in  procefiion  day  and 
night,  travelling  everywhere,  naked  to  the  waist, 
with  heads  covered,  with  a  white  cap  or  hood,  whence 
they  received  likewise  the  appellation  of  Dealbatores, 
finging  penitential  psalms,  and  whipping  themselves 
until  the  blood  flowed.  By  their  means  it  was  that 
the  knowledge  of  this  Hymn  was  firft  carried  to 
almoft  every  country  in  Europe. 


PROEM.  9 

The  authorfhip  of  the  Stabat  Mater,  like  that  of 
the  Dies  Iras,  has  been  the  subject  of  dispute.  It 
has  been  varioufly  ascribed  —  to  Pope  Innocent  III., 
but  backed  by  no  evidence  whatever  ;  to  one  of  the 
Gregories,  (either  the  9th,  10th,  or  nth,  which,  is 
not  ftated,)  on  the  authority  of  the  old  Florentine 
hiitorian  Antoninus,  who  lived  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury ;  to  John  XXII.,  on  the  faith  of  the  Genoese 
Chancellor  and  hiftorian,  Georgius  Stella,  who  wrote 
a  few  years  earlier  than  the  laft  named,  dying  in 
1420.  The  text,  as  supplied  by  him,  the  oldeft 
perhaps  extant,  differs  but  little  from  that  of  the 
Miilale  Romanum,  except  that  it  contains  three  more 
verses.  Others  have  referred  its  paternity,  contrary 
to  all  probability,  to  St.  Bernard.  Dismiffing  all  these 
as  conjectures  unsupported  by  proof,  it  is  now  gen- 
erally conceded,  that  evidence  both  external  and  in- 
ternal makes  it  wellnigh  certain  that  the  Hymn  was 
the  work  of  a  Franciscan  friar,  a  junior  contemporary 
as  well  as  brother  of  the  author  of  Dies  Irae,  named 
Jacobus  de  Benedicts,  commonly  called  Jacopone, 
that  is,  the  great  Jacob.  This  latter  name,  it  seems, 
was  originally  defigned  as  a  kind   of  nickname  ;   the 


10  PROEM. 

syllabic  suffix,  one\  meaning  in  Italian  great,  having 
been  added  by  scoffing  contemporaries  by  way  of  de- 
rifion,  on  account  of  the  ftrangeness  of  his  appearance 
and  behavior.  Indeed,  if  we  may  credit  the  ftories 
told  by  Wadding,  the  Irifh  hiftorian  of  the  order, 
himself  one  of  the  number,  his  conduct  at  times 
so  far  exceeded  the  bounds  of  ordinary  fanatical  ex- 
travagance, as  to  be  totally  irreconcilable  with  the 
pofTeffion  of  right  reason.  Wadding  expreffly  says 
that  he  was  subject  to  fits  of  insanity,  leading  him  at 
one  time  to  enter  the  public  market-place  naked, 
with  a  saddle  on  his  back  and  a  bridle  in  his  mouth, 
going  on  all  fours  ;  and  at  another,  after  anointing 
himself  with  oil,  and  rolling  himself  in  feathers  of 
various  colors,  to  make  his  appearance  suddenly,  in 
this  unseemly  and  hideous  guise,  in  the  midft  of  a 
gay  aflembly  gathered  together  at  the  house  of  his 
brother  on  the  occafion  of  his  daughter's  marriage, — 
and  this  too,  in  disregard  of  previous  precautionary 
entreaties  of  friends,  who,  apprehenfive,  it  seems,  at 
the  time  they  invited  him  that  he  might  be  guilty  of 
some  crazy  manifeftation  or  other,  had  begged  him 
not  to  do  anything  to  difturb  the  wedding  feftivities, 
but  to  behave  as  an  ordinary  citizen. 


PROEM.  II 

The  fhocking  circumftances  under  which  he  loft 
a  pious  and  beloved  wife  (the  fall  of  a  scaffold  upon 
which  a  large  number  of  females  were  seated  wit- 
nefling  some  spectacle),  and  the  discovery  after  death 
that  fhe  wore  a  girdle  of  hair  around  her  naked  body 
as  a  means  of  mortification  to  the  flefh,  affected  him, 
it  is  said,  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  immediately  re- 
solved to  abandon  the  world,  and  devote  the  remainder 
of  his  days  to  the  severed:  penances.  He  accordingly 
gave  up  all  his  civil  honors,  and  divided  his  eftate 
among  the  poor.  Uniting  himself  to  one  of  the 
exifting  orders,  he  now  went  abroad  as  a  monk, 
clothed  in  rags,  and  practifing  all  manner  of  ascetic 
severities  beyond  what  was  required  of  him  by  the 
rules  of  his  order. 

It  is  charitable  to  suppose  that  the  fhock  of  his 
domeftic  calamity,  while  it  awakened  his  religious 
senfibilities,  had  the  effect  at  the  same  time  of  un- 
settling his  reason,  caufing  partial  insanity.  It  is  in 
no  wise  inconfiftent  with  this  suppofition,  that  he  was 
able  to  write  poems  of  such  excellence  as  the  Stabat 
Mater,  and  that  other  one  ascribed  to  him  by  Wad- 
ding :   "Cur  mundus   militat  sub   vana  gloria,"  &c, 


12  PROEM. 

fince  it  is  well  known  that  mental  unsoundness  on 
some  one  point  is  not  neceflarily  incompatible  with  the 
normal  exercise  of  the  general  powers  of  the  mind. 
This  medical  fair,  was  not  so  well  underftood  in  his 
time  as  now  ;  and  when  at  the  end  of  ten  years  he 
defired  to  be  received  by  the  Minorites,  and  they 
hefitated  on  account  of  his  reputed  insanity,  their 
scruples  were  overcome  by  reading  his  work  "  On 
Contempt  of  the  World,"  conceiving  that  it  was 
impoflible  that  an  insane  man  could  write  so  excellent 
a  book.  This  would  seem  to  have  been  a  prose  work, 
written  probably  in  his  own  Italian  vernacular,  and 
therefore  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Hymn  juft 
referred  to,  which  usually  bears  likewise  the  title 
of  "De  Contemptu  Mundi." 

As  a  Minorite  he  was  not  willing  to  become  a 
prieft,  only  a  lay-brother.  Very  severe  againft  him- 
self, he  was,  says  Wadding,  always  full  of  defire  to 
imitate  Christ  and  suffer  for  Him.  In  an  ecftasy  he 
imagined  at  times  that  he  faw  Him  with  his  bodily 
eyes,  and  believed  that  Jesus  often  conversed  with 
him,  —  calling  him  deareft  Jacob.  Very  frequently 
he  was  seen  fighing  ;  sometimes  weeping,  sometimes 


PROEM.  13 

Tinging,  sometimes  embracing  trees,  and  exclaiming, 
"  O  sweet  Jesus !  O  gracious  Jesus  !  O  beloved 
Jesus  !  "  Once  when  weeping  loudly,  on  being  afked 
the  cause,  he  answered  :  "  Because  Love  is  not 
loved."  This  fine  saying  is  not  unworthy  of  the 
author  of  the   Stabat  Mater. 

For  determining  the  genuineness  of  love  he  gives 
these  searching  tefts.  "  I  cannot  know  pofitively  that 
I  love,  yet  I  have  some  good  marks  of  it.  Among 
others,  it  is  a  fign  of  love  to  God  when  I  afk  the 
Lord  for  something  and  He  does  it  not,  and  I  love 
Him  notwithstanding  more  than  before.  If  He  does 
contrary  to  that  which  I  seek  for  in  my  prayer,  and 
I  love  him  twofold  more  than  before,  it  is  a  fign  of 
right  love.  Of  love  to  my  neighbor  I  have  this  fign  : 
namely,  that  when  he  injures  me  I  love  him  not  less 
than  before.  Did  I  love  him  less,  it  would  prove 
that  I  had  loved  not  him  previoufly  but  myself."  In 
this  acute  appreciation  of  the  figns  and  symptoms  of 
true  love,  he  gives  evidence  certainly  of  no  want  of 
fkill  in  spiritual  diagnosis  ;  and  were  he  equally  sound 
and  discriminating  in  all  parts  of  Chriftian  doctrine 
and  experience  as   in  this,  it  might  have  been  quite 


14  PROEM. 

safe  to  truft  him  with  the  cure  of  souls.  It  may  be 
that  his  tefts  are  too  severe  and  superhuman,  and  so 
far  erroneous. 

On  the  subjugation  of  the  senses  he  allegorizes 
in  this  wise  :  "  A  very  beautiful  virgin  had  five  broth- 
ers, and  all  were  very  poor.  And  the  virgin  had  a 
precious  jewel  of  great  worth.  One  brother  was  a 
guitar-player,  the  second  a  painter,  the  third  a  cook, 
the  fourth  a  spice  dealer,  the  fifth  a  pimp.  Each 
was  willing  to  use  blandifhments  to  get  the  ftone. 
The  firft  was  willing  to  play,  and  so  on.  But  fhe 
said :  What  fhall  I  do  when  the  mufic  has  ceased  ? 
In  fhort,  fhe  remained  firm,  and  gave  the  jewel  to 
none.  At  length  a  great  king  came,  who  was  willing 
to  raise  her  to  be  his  bride,  and  give  her  eternal  life 
if  fhe  would  present  him  with  the  ftone.  Where- 
upon fhe  says  :  How  can  I,  O  my  sovereign,  to  such 
grace  refuse  the  ftone  ;  and  so  fhe  gave  it  him."  It 
is  plain  that  by  the  brothers  are  meant  the  Five 
Senses  ;  by  the  virgin,  the  Soul  ;  and  by  the  precious 
jewel,  the  Will. 

With  his  severe  principles  and  severer  ascetic  life, 
Jacopone   could   not  fail   to   earneftly  denounce  the 


PROEM.  15 

corruptions  of  his  time  in  general,  and  especially  the 
licentious  manners,  wickedness,  and  debaucheries 
of  the  priefthood,  and  the  deeply  sunken  condition 
of  the  Church.  Boniface  III.,  who,  prior  to  his 
elevation  to  the  papal  chair,  had  lived  in  friendly  re- 
lations with  Jacopone,  having  been  deeply  offended 
by  some  fharp  censures  directed  againft  him,  threw 
him  into  prison,  —  at  the  same  time  suspended  over 
him  the  excommunication.  Boniface  one  day  pair- 
ing the  cell  where  Jacopone  was,  afked  scornful- 
ly, "When  will  you  come  out?"  He  answered, 
"  When  you  come  in."  Boniface's  own  imprison- 
ment and  unhappy  end  in  1303  set  him  at  liberty. 

It  is  related  likewise  how  he  baffled  Satanic  craft 
by  superior  craftiness  of  his  own  ;  but  the  details  of 
these  temptations  are  so  childifh  and  ridiculous  that 
it  would  not  be  profitable  to  quote.  Doubtless  it  is 
more  fitting  to  weep  than  to  laugh  over  the  frenzies 
and  follies  of  such  a  man, — 

"  To  see  that  noble  and  moft  sovereign  reason 
Like  sweet  bells  jangled  out  of  tune  and  harfh." 

His  whole  hiftory  gives  a  melancholy  but  inftruc- 
tive   infight  into  the  prevalent  fanaticism  and  dark- 


l6  '  PROEM. 

ness  of  the  period.  His  death  took  place  at  an 
advanced  age  in  1306.  "  He  died,"  says  Wadding, 
"like  the  swan,  Tinging,  —  having  composed  several 
Hymns  juft  before  his  death." 

The  number  of  Tranflations  made  of  the  Stabat 
Mater  is  scarcely  exceeded  by  that  of  the  Dies  Irae. 
Lisco,  in  his  work  devoted  to  this  Prosa,  gives  or 
makes  mention  of  eighty-three  in  all,  complete  and 
incomplete.  With  the  exception  of  four  done  in 
Dutch,  these  are  all  German.  A  fimilar  colledion 
of  Englifh  verfions,  although  comparatively  few  in 
number,  would  not  be  without  intereft.  In  attempting 
to  add  another  to  those  already  exifting,  the  present 
Tranflator  has  been  moved  by  a  defire  to  produce 
one  more  literal,  if  poflible,  than  any  he  has  seen. 
He  is  not,  he  confefles,  friendly  to  free  tranflations. 
Free,  he  has  often  observed,  is  another  name  for 
false.  A  counterfeit  is  put  in  the  place  of  the 
genuine  ;  so  that  inftead  of  a  Stabat  we  get  only 
some  worthless  subftitute.  He  honors  that  pains- 
taking religious  scrupulofity  which  respe£ts  the  sa- 
credness  of  words  as  well  as  thoughts  ;  and  fhuns 
all  sacrilegious  license  and  profane  handling,  —  carry- 


PROEM.  *  17 

ing  this  reverence  for  the  venerated  text  so  far  as 
to  be  unwilling,  if  it  can  poffibly  be  helped,  to  vary 
one  jot  or  tittle,  either  in  the  way  of  subftitution  or 
alteration. 

He  has  no  patience  with  that  preposterous  conceit, 
sufficiently  common,  which  imagines  itself  competent 
to  improve  on  great  originals  —  whether  for  that  mat- 
ter these  be  in  a  foreign  tongue  or  the  vernacular, 
and  so  applies  to  all  tamperings  with  Englifh  hymns 
as  well.  It  is  much,  he  confiders,  as  if  some  absurd 
novice  of  the  brufh  mould  undertake  with  a  pre- 
sumptuous hand  to  retouch  a  Raphael  ;  or  an  irrev- 
erent ftone-cutter,  by  the  clumsy  use  of  his  chisel,  to 
improve  a  Venus  de  Aledicis,  or  an  Apollo  Belvedere  ; 
or  some  ignorant  devotee  to  make  some  fine  ftatue 
of  the  Virgin  finer  by  puerile  adornments  of  dress, 
trinkets,  and  glass  beads.  If  the  use  of  means 
adapted  to  degrade  a  mafterpiece  to  the  level  of  an 
image  be  accounted  a  fin  and  an  outrage,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  why  the  impertinences  of  the  cheap  em- 
bellifhments  of  every  would-be  tranflator  of  famous 
originals,  who  aspires  to  be  fine  rather  than  faithful, 
mould  not  be  regarded  as  equally  criminal.  It  may 
2 


10  PROEM. 

be,  as  Dryden  says,  "  almoji  impofiible  to  tranflate 
verbally  and  well ;  "  but  as  the  portrait  of  a  friend  is 
worthless,  however  beautiful,  unless  it  be  a  likeness, 
so  we  hold  a  verfion  mult  fail  of  its  purpose  and  be 
wanting  in  value,  juft  so  far  as  it  is  lacking  in  the 
eflential  point  of  being  a  faithful  representation,  both 
as  to  form  and  spirit,  of  that  to  which  it  relates. 
What  is  here  said,  is  meant,  of  course,  to  apply  only 
to  what  is  deliberately  put  forth  as  a  veritable  trans- 
lation ;  and  not  to  a  production  which  avowedly  uses 
the  text  merely  as  a  theme,  profeffing  and  claiming 
to  do  no  more.  In  this  case  one  may  deviate  as  he 
pleases.      It  is  exclufively  his  own  bufiness. 

With  these  views  of  the  duties  of  a  tranflator,  the 
writer  has  aimed,  however  much  he  may  have  fallen 
fhort,  to  make  his  rendering  a  word  for  word  reflec- 
tion of  the  original,  so  far  at  leaft  as  the  rigorous 
requirements  of  rhyme  and  rhythm  would  allow. 
For  the  sake,  too,  of  a  closer  rhythmic  conformity, 
he  has  sought  even  to  preserve  the  mufical  quad- 
ruplicates of  the  female  rhymes  found  in  the  second 
and  fixth  verses.  The  text  adopted  is  that  of  the 
Roman  MifTal,  except  in  one  or  two  inftances  where 
another  reading  has  been  preferred. 


PROEM.  19 

To  make  the  resemblance  between  the  two  Hymns 
{till  more  complete,  the  Stabat  Alater,  like  the  Dies 
Irae,  has  been  mod  fortunate  in  its  mufical  alliances  ; 
having  been  made  the  theme  of  some  of  the  mod 
celebrated  compofitions  of  the  moft  eminent  com- 
posers. It  was  set  to  mufic  in  the  fixteenth  century 
by  the  famous  papal  chapel  mafter,  Paleftrina  ;  and 
his  compofition  is  frill  annually  performed  in  the 
Siftine  Chapel  during  Holy  Week.  It  is  sung  like- 
wise in  connection  with  the  feftival  of  the  Seven 
Sorrows  of  the  Virgin.  The  compofition  of  Pergolefi, 
the  laft  and  moft  celebrated  of  his  works,  made  julr 
before  his  death  and  left  unfinifhed,  has  never,  down 
to  the  present  day,  been  surpalled,  if  equalled,  in 
the  eftimation  of  critics.  It  is  set  for  two  voices, 
with  accompaniments. 

Tieck,  in  his  Phantasus,  Vol.  2d,  p.  438,  (edition 
of  18 12,)  thus  speaks  of  the  compofition  of  Pergolefi 
and  the  Hymn  itself:  a  The  loveliness  of  sorrow  in 
the  depth  of  pain,  the  smiling  in  tears,  the  childlike- 
ness,  which  touches  on  the  highefr.  heaven,  had  to 
me  never  before  risen  so  bright  in  the  soul.  I  had 
to  turn   away  to   conceal    my  tears,  especially  at  the 


20  PROEM. 

place  :  c  Videt  suum  dulcem  natum.'  How  fignificant, 
that  the  Amen,  after  all  is  concluded,  ftill  sounds 
and  plays  in  itself,  and  in  tender  emotion  can  find 
no  end,  as  if  it  were  afraid  to  dry  up  the  tears,  and 
would  ftill  fill  itself  with  sobbings.  The  poetry  itself 
is  touching  and  profoundly  penetrating  j  surely  the 
poet  sang  those  rhymes  :  c  Quae  mcerebat,  et  dolebat 
cum  videbat,'  with  a  moved  mind."  It  is  a  tradition, 
that  the  great  impreffion  which  the  Stabat.  Mater  of 
the  young  artift  (Pergolefi)  made  on  its  firft  perform- 
ance, inflamed  another  mufician  with  such  furious 
envy,  that  he  ftruck  down  the  young  man  as  he  was 
coming  out  of  the  church.  This  tradition  has  long 
ago  been  disproved,  but  as  Pergolefi  died  early,  it 
may,  as  one  remarks,  be  permitted  to  the  poet  to 
refer  to  this  ftory,  ana*  allow  him  to  fall  as  a  victim 
of  his  art  and  inspiration.  He  was  born  1704— ir 
at  Jefi,  and  died  1737  at  Torre  del  Greco,  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  where  he  had  retired  on 
account  of  his  weakened  health.  The  recent  com- 
position of  Roflini  is  popular  and  pleafing,  but  more 
operatic  than  ecclefiaftical,  and  so  is  better  suited 
to  the  concert-room  than  the  church. 


PROEM.  21 

The  names  of  other  diftinguished  composers  might 
be  cited,  such  as  Aftorga,  Haydn,  Bellini,  and  Neu- 
komm.  Aftorga's  principal  work  was  his  Stabat 
Mater,  the  MS.  of  which  is  frill  preserved  at  Oxford, 
he  having  lived  a  year  or  two  in  England.  He  was 
a  native  of  Sicily,  and  died  in  1755.  Haydn's  was 
published  in  the  year  1781. 

We  give  below  a  condensed  view  of  the  various 
readings  taken  from  Lisco ;  and  as  the  Hymn  is 
usually  divided  into  three-line  Strophes,  making  in 
all  twenty,  the  references  will  be  to  these  :  — 

Strophe  2,  line  2.     Cbntriftatam — Contriftantem. 

4,     "     2.      Et  tremebat  —  Pi  a  mater  —  Dum  videbat 
et  tremebat. 
Chrifti  matrem  fi —  Matrem  Chrifti  cum. 
In  tanto  —  tanto  in. 
Quis  non  poflit  —  Quis  non  poteft —  Quis 

poflit  non. 
Videns — Vidit. 
Morientem  —  Moriendo. 
Dum  emifit  —  amifit. 
Pia  mater  —  Eja  mater. 
Ut  fibi  —  Et  fibi  ;  ut  tibi ;  ut  ipfi ;  fibi  ut. 
Valide  — vivide. 
Jam  dignati  —  Tarn  dignati. 


5» 

u 

2. 

5> 

(i 

3- 

6, 

M 

l/ 

8, 

« 

I. 

8, 

" 

2. 

8, 

t( 

3- 

9> 

u 

1. 

10, 

U 

3- 

11, 

(( 

3- 

12, 

(( 

2. 

Strophe  12, 

line   3. 

i3» 

"      1. 

*4> 

"      2. 

14, 

"     3- 

15, 

"     2. 

16, 

"     2. 

16, 

"     3- 

17, 

"     2. 

17, 

"     3. 

18, 

•«      1. 

22  PROEM. 

Pcenas  pro  me —  Poenas  mecum. 

Fac  me  vere  tecum  —  Fac  me  tecum  pie. 

Te  libenter  —  Et  me  tibi  —  Tibi  me  con- 

sociare. 
In  planctu  —  Cum  planctu. 
Mihi  jam —  Mihi  tarn. 
Suae  sortem  —  Fac  consortem. 
Plagas  recolere  —  Plagis  te  colere. 
Cruce  hac  —  Cruce  fac  me  hac  beari — - 

Cruce  fac. 
Ob  amorem  —  Et  cruore. 
Inflammatus  et  accensus  —  Flammis  urar 
ne  (ne  urar)  succensus. 
20,     "     3.     Gloria — Gratia. 

The    Stabat    Mater   of  Haydn    has    this    for   the 
eighteenth  Strophe  :  — 

Flammis  orci  ne  succendar 
Per  te,  virgo,  fac,  defendar, 
In  die  judicii. 

The    Carmelite    MifTal    gives    for   the  nineteenth 
Strophe  the  following  :  — 

Chrifte,  cum  fit  hinc  exire 

Da  per  matrem  me  venire 

Ad  palmam  victoriae. 

The  change  made    in  some  copies   of  the    seven- 


PROEM. 


23 


teenth  Strophe,  of  the  original  "  Cruce  hac  inebriari," 
into  "  Cruce  fac  me  hac  beari,"  is  fignificant  of  some 
exception   having   been   taken   to  the  great  ftrength, 
not  to  say  the  audacity,  of  the  author's  metaphor,  — 
the  drunkenness  of  love. 


SEQUENTIA    DE    SEPTEM    DOLORIBUS 
BEAT.E    VIRGINIS. 

I. 
TABAT  Mater  dolorosa 
§    Juxta  crucem  lachrymosa 
Qua  pendebat  Filius  ; 
Cujus  animam  gementem, 
Contrillantem  et  dolentem, 
Pertranfivit  gladius. 

II. 
O  quam  triftis  et  affli&a 
Fuit  ilia  benedicla 

Mater  Unigeniti ! 
Quae  moerebat  et  dolebat 
Et  tremebat,  cum  videbat 

Nati  poenas  Inclyti. 


HYMN    OF   THE    SORROWS    OF   MARY. 


TOOD  th'  afflicted  Mother  weeping, 
Near  the  crofs  her  ftation  keeping, 

Whereon  hung  her  Son  and  Lord; 
Through  whose  spirit  sympathizing, 
Sorrowing  and  agonizing, 

Also  patted  the  cruel  sword. 


II. 
O  how  mournful  and  diftreiled 
Was  that  favored  and  moft  blefTed 

Mother  of  the  Only  Son  ! 
Trembling,  grieving,  bosom  heaving, 
While  perceiving,  scarce  believing, 

Pains  of  that  Illuftrious  One. 


26  STABAT    MATER. 

III. 

Quis  eft  homo,  qui  non  fleret, 
Matrem  Chrifti  fi  videret 

In  tanto  supplicio  ? 
Quis  non  pofTet  contriftari 
Piam  matrem  contemplari 

Dolentem  cum  Filio  ? 

'  IV. 
Pro  peccatis  suae  gentis 
Vidit  Jesum  in  tormentis 

Et  flagellis  subditum  ;    . 
Vidit  suum  dulcem  natum 
Morientem,  desolatum, 

Dum  emifit  spiritum. 

V. 

Pia  Mater,  fons  amoris  ! 
Me  sentire  vim  doloris 

Fac,  ut  tecum  lugeam. 
Fac,  ut  ardeat  cor  meum 
In  amando  Chriftum  Deum 

Ut  Sibi  complaceam. 


STABAT    MATER.  2J 

III. 

Who  the  man,  who,  called  a  brother, 
Would  not  weep,  saw  he  Chrift's  mother 

In  such  deep  diftrefs  and  wild  ? 
Who  could  not  sad  tribute  render 
Witneffing  that  mother  tender 

Agonizing  with  her  Child  ? 

IV. 

For  His  people's  fins  atoning 
Him  fhe  saw  in  torments  groaning, 

Given  to  the  scourger's  rod  ; 
Saw  her  darling  Offspring,  dying 
Desolate,  forsaken,  crying, 

Yield  His  spirit  up  to  God. 

V. 

Make  me  feel  thy  sorrow's  power, 
That  with  thee  I  tears  may  fhower, 

Tender  Mother,  fount  of  love  ! 
Make  my  heart  with  love  unceafing 
Burn  towards  Chrift  the  Lord,  that  pleafing 

I  may  be  to  Him  above. 


28  STABAT    MATER. 

VI. 

Sancta  Mater,  iftud  agas, 
Crucifixi  fige  plagas 

Cordi  meo  valide. 
Tui  nati  vulnerati, 
Tam  dignati  pro  me  pati 

Poenas  mecum  divide. 

VII. 
Fac  me  tecum  vere  flere, 
Crucifixo  condolere, 

Donee  ego  vixero. 
Juxta  crucem  tecum  ftare, 
Te  libenter  sociare, 

In  planctu  defidero* 

VIII. 
Virgo  virginum  praeclara, 
Mihi  tam  non  fis  amara, 

Fac  me  tecum  plangere  ; 
Fac  ut  portem  Chrifti  mortem, 
Pamonis  fac  consortem, 

Et  plagas  recolere. 


STABAT    MATER.  29 

VI. 

Holy  Mother,  this  be  granted, 

That  the  Slain  One's  wounds  be  planted 

Firmly  in  my  heart  to  bide. 
Of  Him  wounded,  all  aftounded,  — 
Depths  unbounded  for  me  sounded,  — 

All  the  pangs  with  me  divide. 

VII. 

Make  me  weep  with  thee  in  union  ; 
With  the  Crucified,  communion 

In  His  grief  and  suffering  give  : 
Near  the  crofs  with  tears  unfailing 
I  would  join  thee  in  thy  wailing 

Here  as  long  as  I  mall  live. 

VIII. 

Maid  of  maidens,  all  excelling! 
Be  not  bitter,  me  repelling, 

Make  thou  me  a  mourner  too  ; 
Make  me  bear  about  Chrift's  dying, 
Share  His  paffion,  fhame  defying, 

All  His  wounds  in  me  renew: 


30  STABAT    MATER. 

IX. 

Fac  me  plagis  vulnerari, 
Cruce  hac  inebriari 

Ob  amorem  Filii. 
Inflammatus  et  accensus, 
Per  te,  Virgo,  fim  defensus 

In  die  Judicii. 

X. 

Fac  me  cruce  cuilodiri, 
Morte  Chrifti  praemuniri, 

Confoveri  gratia. 
Quando  corpus  morietur, 
Fac  ut  animae  donetur 

Paradifi  gloria. 


STABAT    MATER.  3 1 

IX. 

Wound  for  wound  be  there  created  ; 
With  the  Crofs  intoxicated 

For  thy  Son's  dear  sake,  I  pray  — 
May  I,  fired  with  pure  affe&ion, 
Virgin,  have  through  thee  protection 

In  the  solemn  Judgment  Day. 

X. 

Let  me  by  the  Crofs  be  warded, 
By  the  death  of  Chrift  be  guarded, 

Nourifhed  by  divine  supplies. 
When  the  body  death  hath  riven, 
Grant  that  to  the  soul  be  given 

Glories  bright  of  Paradise. 


REMARKS. 


O  admiration  of  the  lyric  excellence  of 
the  Stabat  Mater  fhould  be  allowed  to 
blind  the  reader  to  those  objectionable 
features  which  muft  always  suffice,  as 
they  have  hitherto  done,  to  exclude  it  from  every 
hymnarium  of  Proteftant  Chriftendom.  For  not 
only  is  Marv  made  the  object,  of  religious  worfhip, 
but  the  incommunicable  attributes  of  the  Deity  are 
freely  ascribed  to  her.  Her  agency  is  invoked  as  if 
fhe  were  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity,  or  had 
powers   coordinate  and  equal. 

Plainly  it  is  the  province  of  the  Holy  Ghoft,  and 
not  of  any  creature,  to  "  work  in  us  to  will  and  to 
do  ;  "  to  effecl:  spiritual  changes  ;  to  "  take  of  the 
things  of  Chrift  and  (how  them  unto  us,"  —  and  yet 
these  are  the  very  things  which  me  herself  is  afked 
to  accomplifh  for  the  suppliant.     "  Fac,"  alone,  afide 


REMARKS.  33 

from  potential  equivalents,  is  used  at  lead  nine  times, 
—  a  form  of  expreffion  manifeftly  inappropriate  un- 
lefs  add  relied  to  one  capable  of  a£ts  causal  and  orig- 
inal and  therefore  divine.  Not  content,  it  seems, 
with  making  her  a  fountain  of  supernatural  influence, 
a  succedaneum  of  the  Holy  Ghoft,  her  efficiency 
is  extended  to  the  performance  likewise  of  the  work 
affigned  to  the  Son,  — 

Per  te,  Virgo,  fim  defensus 
In  die  Judicii,  — 

an  expreffion  of  reliance  on  her" rather  than  on  Him 
to  ward  off  in  that  day  the  demands  of  divine  juftice. 
Mariolatry  here  culminates.  It  could  not  well  be 
carried  farther. 

Confidering  that  the  pofition  here  given  to  the 
mother  of  Chrift  receives  not  a  particle  of  counte- 
nance anywhere  in  the  New  Teftament,  one  is  led 
to  wonder  how  those  who  accepted  its  teachings 
could  ever  have  fallen  into  so  awful  an  error.  If 
prayer  of  any  kind  addreiTed  to  her  were  laudable  or 
lawful,  how  can  it  be  explained  that  all  the  sacred 
writers  are  so  intensely  reticent  upon  the  point  that 
it  is  not  poflible  to  find  written  so  much  as  a  fingle 
3 


34  REMARKS. 

syllable  to  authorize  it,  or  a  solitary  example  to  sanc- 
tion it  ?  It  is  remarkable  that  Chrift,  while  here  on 
earth,  did  not  hefitate  to  rebuke  His  mother  on  a 
certain  occafion  when  (he  manifefted  a  dispofition  to 
intrude  her  maternal  human  relation  into  the  sphere 
of  His  divinity,  saying  :  "  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do 
with  thee?"  At  another  time,  upon  being  told  that 
His  mother  and  His  brethren  flood  waiting  without, 
He  said,  ct  Who  is  my  mother  ?  and  who  are  my 
brethren  ?  "  and  ftretching  forth  His  hand  toward 
His  disciples,  He  said,  "  Behold,  my  mother  and  my 
brethren  ?  For  whosoever  (hall  do  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother 
and  fitter  and  mother." 

Everybody  muft  feel  that  there  is  a  sublime  propri- 
ety in  this  declarative  poftponement,  once  for  all,  of 
flefhly  relationships  to  the  spiritual  ;  and  that  it  would 
be  infinitely  unbecoming  in  Him,  who  is  the  Creator 
of  all  and  the  Judge  of  all,  to  be  a  respecter  of  per- 
sons, swayed  as  men  are  swayed  by  the  fond  par- 
tialities of  blood  and  kindred.  Upon  this  principle 
it  is  easy  to  account  for  the  flight  mention  made  of 
Chrift's   mother  in   the    Evangelifts,    and    the  entire 


REMARKS. 


35 


absence  of  any  allufion  to  her  in  the  reft  of  the  New 
Teftament.  Even  the  Apoftle  John,  to  whose  lov- 
ing care  fhe  was  committed,  and  who  took  her  to 
his  own  house,  neither  in  his  Epiftles  nor  in  the 
Apocalypse  names  her  so  much  as  once.  Paul,  the 
moft  voluminous  of  the  New  Teftament  writers,  is 
wholly  filent  in  regard  to  her. 

When  the  people  of  Lyftra  were  making  ready  to 
pay  divine  honors  to  Barnabas  and  Paul,  they,  hear- 
ing of  it,  u  rent  their  clothes,  and  ran  among  the 
people,  crying  out  and  saying,  Sirs,  why  do  ye  these 
things  ?  "  If  these  revolted  at  the  idea  of  being 
made  the  objects  of  religious  worfhip,  can  we  sup- 
pose that  supreme  form  of  it  lefs  (hocking  to  the 
soul  of  Mary,  which  is  neceffarily  implied  in  ad- 
dreffing  her  as  the  omniscient  and  omnipresent 
hearer  and  answerer  of  prayer  ?  Such  honor  is 
difhonor.  It  is  an  offering  of  robbery.  It  robs 
God. 


ISo.  1 


STABAT   MATER. 

(SUXG   OX    EVERY    FRIDAY   DURING    LENT.) 
As  sung  in  tlce  Churches  at  Rome. 


Gregorian  Chant. 

From  the  "  Catholic  Psalmist. 


W- 


1.  Sta-bat    ma  -  ter     do  -  lo  -  ro  -  sa,        Jux  -  ta     cru-cem 

2.  Cu  -  jus      a  -   m  -  mam  ge  -  men-tern,      Con  -  tris  -  tan  -  tern 


w 


la  -  cry  -  mo  -  sa, 

et     do  -  len  -  tem, 


Qua    pen     de  -  bat      fi    -   li    -   us. 
Per  -  trau  -  si   -  vit     gla  -  di  -    us. 


3.  O  quam  tristis  et  afflicta 
Fuit  ilia  beuedicta 

Mater  Unigeuiti ! 

4.  Quae  moerebat  et  dolebat 
Et  tremebat  cum  videbat 

Nati  poenas  mclytL 

5.  Quis  est  homo,  qui  nou  fleret, 
Matrem  Christi  si  videret 

In  tauto  supplicio  ? 

6.  Quis  non  posset  contristari, 
Piam  matrem  coutemplari 

Doleutem  cum  filio. 

7.  Pro  peccatis  suae  geutis 
Vidit  Jesum  iu  torraentis 

Et  flagellis  subditum. 

8.  Vidit  suum  dulcem  natum 
Morientem,  desolatum 

Dum  emisit  spiritum. 

9.  Pia  mater,  fons  amoris  ! 
Me  sentire  vim  doloris 

Fac,  ut  tecum  lugeam. 
Fac,  ut  ardeat  cor  meum 
Iu  amando  Christum  Deum, 

Ut  Sibi  complaceam. 
Saucta  mater,  istud  agas 
Crucifixi  fige  plazas 

Cordi  meo  valide. 


in 


11 


12. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


17 


II 


19. 


20, 


Tui  nati  vulnerati 

Tam  dignati  pro  me  pati 

Pceuas  mecum  divide. 
Fac  me  tecum  pie  flere 
Crucifixo  condolere 
Douec  ego  vixero. 
Juxta  crucem  tecum  stare 
Et  me  tibi  sociare 

In  planctu  desidero. 
Virgo  virginum  prasclara 
Mihi  tam  uon  sis  amara, 

Fac  me  tecum  plangere. 
Fac  ut  portem  Christi  mortem 
Passionis  fac  cousortem 

Et  plagas  recolere. 
Fac  me  plagis  vulnerari 
Cruce  hac  inebriari 

Ob  amorem  filii. 
Infiammatus  et  accensus 
Per  te.  virgo,  sim  defensus 

In  die  judieii. 
Fac  me  cruce  custodiri 
Morte  Christi  praemuniri 

Confoveri  gratia. 
Quando  corpus  morietur 
Fac  ut  animae  douetur 

Paradisi  gloria. 


STABAT  MATEE -Chant  for  Four  Voices. 
No.  ^2.  Novbllo.    From  "Evening  Service.' 


Sta-bat     ma-ter    do  -  lo    -    ro-sa         Jux-ta       cru-cem 


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i -cry  -  mo-sa,       Qua  pea    -    de    -    bat      fi   -    H  -    us. 


INo.  3. 


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